


Web Of Secrets

by Loeka



Category: Spider-Man - All Media Types, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse (2018)
Genre: Aaron and Gwen meet when Gwen is already an adult, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Family Feels, Miles is still his canon age though, No Underage Sex, Porn With Plot, Romance, So many family feels, actually it's Plot With Porn but for some reason that isn't a tag, because why not, but there's a fair amount of porn too, it's as important as the romance, so is the plot, there's also
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:42:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 42,543
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27992445
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Loeka/pseuds/Loeka
Summary: Alright, let's do this one last time. Name's Aaron Davis, and for the past ten years, I've been the one and only Prowler.(Or, in a world where an adult Gwen is the one pushed into the collider, the Prowler and Spider-Woman are enemies)(Aaron Davis and Gwen Stacy aren't)
Relationships: Aaron Davis & Jefferson Davis (Marvel), Aaron Davis & Miles Morales, Aaron Davis/Gwen Stacy
Comments: 104
Kudos: 40





	1. The Present - Part 1

Spider-Woman always gets away. That’s what Aaron tells himself, walking through the ruin caused by the collider going out of control. Spider-Woman always gets away.

He keeps telling himself that even when they find the Green Goblin’s corpse. Don’t matter he thought that beast was indestructible too, Spider-Woman always gets away. Sure, she’ll be injured, but her healing will take care of that. She’s fine.

His denial gets broken by a wet cough echoing through the dust. Even then, he can’t accept the truth until it’s shoved in his face.

There she is. Suit torn and covered with blood, a leg pinned beneath a large piece of ruble. Her breathing is ragged, and she's slumped back like she don't got the strength to do anything else. One of her lenses is broken, revealing a too familiar eye.

“Now isn’t this a pretty sight?”

Part of Aaron is aware of the boss speaking but most of him can only look at the sight he’d hoped to never see. The worst part is that she ain’t even trying to get up. It's almost insulting. Of all the times to pick, this is when she decides to call it quits?

Get up. Push off that rubble and swing out of here. Go. Just go.

“I could get used to seeing you like this, little spider.”

“I'm not surprised.”

Her voice modulator still works. That’s good. Keeps the boss from running voice recognition.

Aaron realizes how stupid that thought is when the boss moves forward and pulls off Spider-Woman’s hood and mask.

It’s like getting punched in the gut. Every denial, every dumbass justification he ever made gets torn apart.

Gwen is Spider-Woman. The hair falling to her jaw, the faint freckles dotting her nose. The eyes closed in a pained grimace. It’s a face he knows by heart. And he knew who she was, has known for half a year now.

It feels like when he first found out.

Part of Aaron is aware he can’t throw up here. Another part notes that Tombstone is watching him, instincts tipped off by something in his body language. 

He can’t look away from Gwen. Gwen, hurt and exhausted and defiant as always.

“Going straight for the kill then?”

Her voice modulator still works. Not bound to her mask then.

“Oh honey.”

The amount of venom makes him pay attention to the boss for real.

Vanessa is wearing a lethal smile the most cruel of eyes. She’s enjoying every moment of this. And she’s only just gotten started.

Vanessa leans towards Gwen, barely staying out of grabbing range. A risk she never would have taken before.

“By the time I’m through with you, you’re going to wish I’d killed you here.”

It’s a promise, not a threat. Ever since losing her husband and son, Vanessa has wanted nothing more than to make Spider-Woman suffer. And now she can.

Vanessa straightens back up, eyes still on Gwen.

“Lock her up. And cut off her arms and legs.”

The words snap him out of his shock. Just like that, it’s clear what he's gotta do.

He's gotta save Gwen.

“It would be such a shame to have our little spider escape before we can play,” Vanessa says with a picture perfect smile. Savoring the horror Gwen is showing.

Aaron steps forward, plans taking shape. Vanessa will expect him and Tombstone to lock up Spider-Woman, and the transit will provide the best window to work with. Will be tricky to pull it off with Tombstone there but not impossible. Now, does he go with Gwen when she escapes or does he pretend to get overpowered?

Go with Gwen. The old queen might have forgiven him for losing Spider-Woman but the new one won’t. Worse, she’s gonna go after his family and make him watch.

He's gonna need to kill the Black Queen. Damn.

All this runs through his mind as he nears Gwen. Who’s struggling to get free now. 

She fails. He’s relieved. If she gets out now, the odds will be against them. Better to have her unconscious for the first part.

He's really not looking forward to cutting off her air—choking her, hurting her, watching her struggle like an animal and it's _Gwen_ —but it's better than knocking her unconscious. Too much risk of giving her a real head injury.

Gwen lets out a frustrated—pained, so pained. Just how bad a state is she in?—cry as the rubble refuses to budge before she clenches her jaw and looks back at Vanessa.

“Don’t you want to know what I saw?”

"Wait."

Aaron smoothly steps back. Gotta act normal. If he shows his hand now, there’s too much risk of him or Gwen ending up dead. 

Gwen takes a steadying breath. He worries over how it rattles. Pierced lung?

Gwen looks at Vanessa, determined.

“I know what you’re trying to do. It won’t work. They’re gone.”

Part of him finds it weird to hear her speak with Spider-Woman's voice but most of him is keeping watch on Vanessa. Normally he’d feel confident in predicting her response, but she’s been acting out ever since losing her family. Gwen driving in that knife even deeper? It’s gonna cause the queen to lash out. Don’t know in what way though. She could come up with more torture for Gwen, but she could also lose her temper and shoot her in the head.

Vanessa shifts her weight, tense and trying to mask it. She places a hand on her waist, close to her gun. Shit.

Aaron don’t get a chance to come up with a course of action before Gwen speaks again, and what she says causes a wave of panic because he gets what she’s trying to do now.

She’s trying to goad Vanessa into killing her. 

No, she ain't. She's trying to get Vanessa to make a mistake. To get her back into grabbing range, to give her some kind of leverage that could help her escape.

The problem, this won't give her that.

“They’re going to hate you. And you’re going to hate them back.”

He’s gotta step in _now_. Starts doing just that when Vanessa raises her hand and shit, if he don’t obey, she’s gonna know something is up.

“Because they’re copies,” Gwen says and Aaron curses her for doing this. He gets what she's trying to do, but this is gonna end with a bullet in her head. 

Cause he can't let this play out, he moves forward despite Vanessa’s command, planning to cut off Gwen's air and claim he did it so Vanessa wouldn’t regret killing her too soon.

Tombstone grabs his arm, holding him back. Aaron glances at him, sees Tombstone is holding a gun with warning—not the armor piercing one—but then his attention is drawn back to Gwen.

“Hollow, broken fakes. No matter how long you search, you’ll never get your family back.”

For a moment, Aaron has hope Vanessa won’t snap. Then she takes hold of her gun and he knows it’s all over.

He fires his boots, the force letting him rip his arm out of Tombstone’s hold, and tackles Vanessa, crushing her gun and breaking his fall by rolling off her. Gotta keep moving, Tombstone will pump him full of lead if he don’t. 

As expected, Tombstone starts shooting with both guns. Only the right contains armor piercing rounds, but while a hit from the left won’t be fatal, it’ll slow him down enough for Tombstone to get in a kill shot. Aaron darts around and grabs the first piece of rubble he can, throwing it at Tombstone. Need to create an opening so he can close the distance.

The rubble don’t create that opening, but the web bullet splattering all over Tombstone’s eyes does. Spider-Woman quick to adapt as always.

Aaron closes the distance, but even blind, Tombstone knows him well enough to avoid the claws aimed at his guts. There’s no room for another kill shot, so Aaron settles for kicking Tombstone in the side, enhancing the hit with a repulsor and using the other to spin to his feet.

Tombstone hits a slab of concrete hard enough to crack it but Aaron knows that won’t keep him down for long. Could go after him and get in a kill shot, but that would mean leaving Gwen. Too much risk with her being trapped.

He runs to Gwen, gets his gauntlets underneath the concrete and lifts the rubble keeping her pinned down. Needs both hydraulics and boots to do it. Shit, that’s heavy. Also jammed, preventing him from just throwing it off.

Gwen gets her leg out and takes hold of his arm, using him as support to get to her feet. She's confused and alert and showing no sign of recognition. 

She’s trusting him despite only knowing him as an enemy. Would be a dumbass move if he weren’t saving her for real.

His attention is drawn to Vanessa. She’s gracelessly getting to her knees and pressing down the gash he caused with his tackle. She’s looking at him with shock and hate.

He’s never gonna get a cleaner shot than this. Unfortunately, Gwen wraps an arm around his shoulders and a leg around his waist, making him shift his balance and get his own arm around her on instinct, and then she’s shooting a web and yanking them up with a cry—a pained one—and Aaron is firing his boots and moving with the force before he even realizes what he’s doing. By the time his mind catches up to his body, it’s too late to go back. Tombstone will have recovered before he can make it to Vanessa.

Aaron switches to digital vision and looks for an exit. Should drop through one of the holes, the tunnels are the fastest way to his bike, and if they’re gonna get away, they’re gonna need speed.

Spider-Woman curses. With his visor in digital mode, Gwen's features don't stand out as long as he don't focus on her. It's a relief.

“Shit, the kid.”

What kid?

He don’t get a chance to figure out the answer before Spider-Woman shoots another web and swings them back the way they came. Part of Aaron is cursing her even as he moves with her. She just had to make things more difficult.

The only reason he stays put after landing is cause they don’t end up quite where they came from. But they gotta hurry. Even with the echoes making it hard to locate the source, Vanessa’s voice is too close. And he’s pretty sure she’s calling for Octavius. No way in hell is he fighting that crazy bitch. 

“Kid, get over here.”

Aaron has just realized that some kid has somehow gotten caught in this whole mess, meaning Spider-Woman and her bleeding heart need to save them, when the kid in question scrambles into view, clumsily sliding down a slab of rubble. Another body to carry. Great. At least the kid ain’t big. 

Should switch to normal vision. Best to get a real look at the kid, make sure he knows what to search for if they get separated. A solid possibility, what with the route they’re taking. 

He could lose the kid on purpose. Will be easier to get away if it’s just him and Gwen. That's the thought running through his mind when his optics change and everything slams to a halt.

“Miles?”

What the fuck is Miles doing here?

“How do you know my name?” Miles asks cause Miles is here and how the fuck is Miles here?

“Aaron?”

His eyes dart to Spider-Woman and Gwen is looking at him with shock and denial and _shit_. 

Alright, get it together. Miles and Gwen are both here, meaning he’s gotta get them both out. Everything else can wait.

“We've gotta go,” he says and don’t give Gwen a chance to respond before moving to Miles. Gwen, still wrapped around his side, makes an aborted move of some kind. Aaron would have paid more attention to that if it weren’t for one thing.

Miles is backing away, afraid. It makes Aaron freeze, a whole new terror gripping his throat. Miles should never be afraid of him.

His nephew is never gonna think him safe again.

Get going. Get out first, all else second.

“It’s okay, he’s on our side.”

Spider-Woman’s voice is steady. Part of Aaron wonders how much of that is thanks to her modulator, Gwen’s face shows just how not alright things are. 

Most of his focus is on Miles, who hesitates a mere moment before running at him fast. Too fast. Miles shouldn't be that quick.

And then Miles is jerking to a stop in front of him and babbling way too loud.

“Are you alright, I saw—why did you do that?” 

That last is aimed at him.

“You’re the Prowler, and you know my name and seriously, how do you know that?”

“Miles, shut up and get on.”

Aaron is grateful for Spider-Woman’s firm interruption. This is his worst nightmare come to life.

Miles hasn’t realized who he is. Didn’t hear the name Gwen used. He can still save this.

“I’ll explain everything after we’re safe,” Spider-Woman continues in a gentler voice. Aaron holds out a hand—not a hand, a gauntlet, a weapon he’s used to kill and now he’s aiming it at _Miles_ —and mentally begs his nephew to take it. 

Gwen moves, messing with his cape and crawling onto his back. Flexible as ever even with her injuries. Part of Aaron realizes she’s doing it cause he can’t hold Miles and her both, and he shifts his position to help her. 

Most of his focus stays on Miles.

Miles hesitates, but when a loud yell echoes—the boss losing it as she never has—he jumps onto Aaron’s chest.

Reflex is the only reason Aaron don’t fall straight down his ass. That was a hard hit.

His hands are halfway up to support Miles when he remembers his gauntlets. Aaron adjusts the move so only his arms are touching his nephew. 

Miles has his own arms and legs wrapped around him hard. Too hard. Even with armor, the pressure is almost painful. Miles shouldn’t be capable of that. 

“Still got the key?” Spider-Woman asks, helping him get his head back in the game.

“Yeah,” Miles says, voice tight with fear. Aaron wishes he could comfort him but he’s busy switching to digital sight and making sure they haven’t been found yet. Wish he could use thermal vision, best way to keep from being ambushed, but turns out machinery that rips open dimensions runs hot and the heat don’t fade fast. Digital will have to do.

“Good. Let’s go.”

With that, Spider-Woman shoots another web, and Aaron fires his boots when she yanks, taking some of the strain off her. Careful to keep his hold on Miles secure, he looks for the nearest exit. Don’t think about Gwen knowing, don’t think of how he’s gonna keep Miles from finding out. Just get them out of here. Get them somewhere safe.

For the most part, Aaron succeeds in staying on task. The skill is one of the many reasons he’s so good at what he does. But there’s a tension that’s never been there before.

He’s always known his life was gonna fall apart one day. 

He never imagined it would come crashing down like this.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I recently saw Into The Spiderverse and fell in love. Clearly, that means I need to write a fic. And because I love butterfly effects, this is what my muse came up with. Hope you're intrigued now! And if you leave a comment saying you are, I'll adore you forver :D
> 
> Also, happy birthday to the greatest movie ever made!


	2. The Past - Part 1

The first time Aaron sees her, he don’t talk to her. Not his type, and judging from the way she's gesturing, she’s nowhere near sober either. Instead, he’s got his eye on the beauty in the back, who’s got legs for miles. Legs put on full display with the dress she’s wearing. That’s the first sign she’s looking for the same thing he is.

The second sign comes when he catches her gaze and tilts his head with invitation and question both. She smiles back, a sultry thing that sends heat down his spine. Yeah, she’s down to fuck. 

Aaron grabs his beer and ambles over, not too fast but not too slow either. There’s a trick to walking like you own the room and look good while doing it, and he’s long since gotten it down. His potential hookup appreciates the view. Some guys might have started swaggering then but Aaron ain’t one of them boys.

As he passes the bar, his attention is drawn to the white girl he’d dismissed as an option before. She’s drunk alright, the slurring and unfocused eyes leave no doubt about that. 

She’s also rambling about old school drummers. John Bonham, Clyde Stubblefield, Keith Moon. She’s not making much sense, but even drunk, it’s clear she knows her stuff. It piques his interest a little, music is a passion of his. But he’s not here for conversation, and again, her looks are lacking. He returns his attention to what he wants.

Sliding into the seat next to his target, he turns on the bedroom eyes. 

“Hey.”

“Hey yourself,” she says, her accent telling him she’s a Jersey girl. He can work with that.

"Haven't seen you around before," he says. The classics are there for a reason.

As expected, she raises a brow, unimpressed.

"Really? That's your opening line?"

"Depends," he returns with ease. Don't matter what he says really, not if she's interested in the same thing he is. A no strings attached night of fun. Don't need a lot of personality for that. Just a good delivery. "Is it working?" He accompanies the question by a casual shift in posture. Showing off the goods. 

The way her eyes rake over him tells him she's definitely looking for the same thing he is. She meets his gaze with a coy smile and a tilt of her chest that puts her own goods on display. He's always been an ass man, but it’d be rude not to show appreciation for the rest of the package. He lets his eyes linger long enough to send the right kind of message. 

She’s pleased and not hiding it. Another reason he went after her is because she seemed the type who knows her own worth. Always nice to see his instincts proven right.

"It might be,” she says. Aaron smiles.

They do the small talk thing, revealing names and nothing else. Aaron is ready to wrap this up when his attention is drawn back to the white girl. The guy she was talking to has gotten handy and she's not having it. For a moment the shred of conscience he’s never been able to get rid of wonders if he should interfere, but the thought is banished as fast as it appears. Miles is the only one who can make him act like he’s got some kind of decency left. 

Turns out, even if he wasn't a bastard, there was no need to worry. When the guy grabs her arm, ready to use force to get what he wants, the girl spins to her feet with startling grace, slipping free from the guy's hold and grabbing the back of his shirt in the same movement.

She slams him down the bar temple first, hard enough to inspire a moment of silence in the people around. Aaron is impressed. Girl might be skinny but damn, she packs a punch. She even knocked the guy unconscious, the body slumping to the floor. The guy is still alive but who knows what damage he got. His current breathing could be a temporary thing. Not that Aaron cares. If the guy didn’t want to get his head bashed in, he shouldn’t have acted like a dumbass.

The girl looks at her victim with the confusion that comes from being drunk. Then she sighs like an already shit day just got even worse.

She crouches down, grabs the body and hauls it onto her shoulder like the guy hasn't got several stones on her. Aaron reevaluates fast. Yeah, he noticed how strong her legs are, but he thought that was it. He was wrong big time, what with the weight she’s handling like it’s nothing. Aaron shifts in his seat, covering his weak spots without making it obvious. By the time his mind catches up to what his body is doing, he’s already checking out the rest of the bar. Takes only a moment to decide to complete the check. Will help settle the tension still trying to take over.

His threat assessment remains the same for all.

Returning his attention to the girl he seriously misjudged, he watches as she leaves the bar with the guy slung over her shoulder, her footing steady. Aaron wonders what she does to keep in shape like that.

“Lost your eyes already?”

He returns his attention to Maya, giving her a practiced smile. The entrance is still within his vision.

“Ain’t nothing that can pull these eyes away from you, gorgeous.”

Maya warns him that better be true, but there’s no real insecurity in it. This is all part of the game.

Aaron is ready to end the game. When the opening comes, he lifts an arm. He's on the lookout for any sign of rejection.

Maya leans towards him. Aaron feels his smile turn into something more sincere. Something that makes Maya’s eyes grow dark.

He grabs her shoulder.

“Hey. Want to get out of here?”

The answer is the same as ever. The shoulder touch never fails.

When they leave the bar, he unobtrusively looks around for the girl, still annoyed with himself for misjudging her that bad. She’s gone though, and so Aaron puts her out of his mind. 

He’s got more pleasant matters to attend to.

* * *

The second time he sees her, he does talk to her. She’s back in the same bar, and while she’s nursing a cocktail, she’s still sober. Good.

Aaron sits down next to her and signals the bartender for a beer. The girl spares him a glance but nothing else. Whatever keeps her in shape like that, it ain’t work like his. She’d be more on guard if it was.

Aaron sips his beer and examines his target without hiding what he’s doing. She’s wearing a loose hoodie again, one that falls to her thighs. Made for a man, not a woman. Explains how he misjudged her before. The too large garment makes her seem smaller than she is. The dim lighting in this place don’t help either. 

The lighting hid just how young she is. He’s got several years on her, if not a whole decade.

Damn, he’s in his thirties. And here his brother was always telling him he'd be six feet under before that happened.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer.”

The words are biting and without much of an accent. Enough to tell him she’s from the city but nothing else.

“Left the camera at home,” he returns, at ease. The trick to getting through people’s defenses is to act like it’s all good. 

The girl scowls but she gets rid of it before turning to face him. She’s not ugly but there’s nothing special about her either. Blonde hair, blue eyes and a face a dime in a dozen. He digs the eyebrow piercing though.

“Look, I’m sure you’re a nice guy, but I’m not interested.”

“Ouch,” he says with real humor. “Going straight for the kill?” No man likes to be called a ‘nice guy’.

“Not my fault you’re taking this personally,” she returns, unimpressed. Aaron smiles.

“Fair enough.” He grabs his beer like he’s planning to get up before he lets his eyes return to her face. She’s expecting him to make another attempt of course, but these things run smoother when you give a heads up. “Wasn’t intending to bother you. Just figured it would be nice to talk music. You know your drummers.”

Blue eyes narrow with suspicion. First real smarts she’s shown.

“How do you know that?”

“I heard you talking last time,” he says with a faint smile. Nothing about him says he’s feeling satisfied. Or that he’s still on the prowl. “Also saw you knock a guy out cold. It left an impression.”

The girl startles. Aaron didn’t expect her to remember him, and being proven wrong would make his guard go up. Even ignoring how long it’s been, remembering that level of detail when drunk points to a situational awareness only a certain kind of people have.

The girl grimaces and looks away. She fiddles with her drink. Guilty conscience?

“You saw that?” she asks, her voice soft. He thinks there’s regret in it, maybe even shame, but the music is making it hard to tell.

“He deserved it,” Aaron says, softening his own voice a little. Guessing she’ll respond better to compassion than admiration. For the most part. “But yeah, I saw. Was impressed too.”

The girl shifts on her stool, uncomfortable. Guilty conscience it is. Impossible to determine the reason for it though.

Aaron stands up.

“If you change your mind about talking, offer’s open. If not, no hard feelings.”

With that, he tips his beer at her and ambles to the back. Pushing right now would only cause her to slam shut. Leaving has the best odds of her coming after him. Not right away, maybe not even this night. But if he sees her again, he’s got an in. 

She ain’t his type. But she’s caught his interest. That makes up for a lot of things.

* * *

The third time he sees her, he learns her name.

“Gwen,” she says with a smile, her defenses down. She arrived after he did, and this time she remembered him. The look she got when spotting him made that clear. He responded with a smile but didn’t approach her. Sometimes the best way to hunt is to let the target come to you.

She did just that.

“Aaron,” he says, holding out his hand. When she takes it, he keeps hold long enough to make clear what he’s after. It’s fine if she don’t take him up on it, this is supposed to be fun for them both. Would be stupid not to leave the option open though. Again, she's caught his interest.

She glances at his hand but don’t let go until he does. Not an acceptance but not a rejection either.

“So, Keith Moon,” she says.

“Not as good as Stubblefield,” he returns without missing a beat. Gwen grins, showing off a small gap between her teeth. Some guys would find that cute.

They talk music. He wasn’t wrong, she knows her stuff. Mostly the rock genres, but she ain’t a stranger to the rest. Best of all, she’s got a sharp tongue and a clever sense of humor. Aaron is having a better time than expected. But he went after her for a reason.

When the opportunity presents itself, he gets down to business.

“So what do you do to keep in shape?”

“Here I thought you liked me for my personality,” Gwen returns with mock offense.

“Sure do,” he says, not even lying. She’s fun. “Won’t lie though, I’m digging the package too.” Now this is a load of bull. Gwen knows it too, as told by her snort.

“Because I’m looking so fine this eve.” She accompanies the words with a gesture at the hoodie that’s seen better times.

“Everyone’s got their kinks,” he says with enough suggestion to remind her of his offer. While she’s not his type in looks, she’s hitting most other marks. Key being the confidence she seems to have in her own worth.

Gwen flushes. It’s faint, easy to miss even with the attention he’s paying her. The way her eyes dart to his lips is obvious though.

Yeah, she’s into him. Don’t mean she wants to fuck, but the odds of getting there are in his favor. First things first though.

“So, you work out?” he asks, making use of the potential opening. If the blush means she’s flustered, she’ll accept the change in subject without thinking it through.

The blush fades, replaced by a deep sigh. Gwen looks at him with humor and resignation both. Expecting her next words to have an impact.

“I do ballet.”

Aaron laughs, the response all real. No wonder she looked like that.

“Laugh it up,” Gwen says, amused. “Everyone else does too.”

Aaron grins. Everyone else has got to ask too, and she’s clearly expecting him to do the same. Would be rude to deny a lady, now wouldn’t it?

“Let me guess. You got inspired by the neighborhood spider?”

“I’ll have you know I was dancing long before Spider-Woman appeared,” Gwen returns with playful offense. She wags a finger at him and part of Aaron wonders how she’d react if he were to suck on it.

Most of him is still entertained by the punchline he just got treated to.

“In fact, who’s to say Spider-Woman didn’t get inspired by me?”

Who’s to say she ain’t Spider-Woman herself?

Aaron banishes the thought before it can take hold. Suspicion is part of the job, but if he lets it bleed into his private life, it’s going to cripple him real fast. Caution is fine, paranoia is not.

“Would think you a little young for that,” he says. “You’re what, twenty-four?” Twenty-six is his real guess, but it’s always better to aim low with a lady's age.

“Very smooth,” Gwen says with a grin. Aaron shrugs with pride. He’s got game and he ain’t shy about it.

More importantly, she didn’t respond like she’s got something to hide. Sure, his guess might be a little off, but not enough for it to matter. Aaron would have bet a lot on her being legal of course, never would have gone the route he did otherwise. But while she's got no flashy make-up on, the subtle shit can hide just as much, so the confirmation is nice.

“And what do _you_ do to keep in shape?” Gwen asks, checking out the goods. Aaron changes his position so she’s got a better view.

“I work out.” Both on and off the job. Takes a lot of upkeep to do the shit he does.

“But not just to look good,” Gwen says, certain. Aaron raises a brow, wondering how she knows.

He’s figured out the answer just as Gwen gives him an indulging look.

“I’m a dancer. I know when muscles are for show and when they’re for use.”

Aaron concedes the point with a smile.

“I box.” Among other things. “And I’m guessing you do something like it too,” he continues. Getting back to business. The ballet explains how she keeps in shape, but it don’t explain the reflex that led to her knocking out a guy while drunk.

Gwen raises a brow and prepares to answer, but then her expression clears with sudden understanding and she bites back whatever she was gonna say. She gives him a long look, closed off as she wasn't before. Aaron keeps acting like it’s all good. 

Has she figured it out? He hopes she has. It’s always more fun when the target has a brain.

“This is why you approached me, isn’t it? It had nothing to do with the music, you want to know how I knocked that guy unconscious.”

Aaron smiles. Now things are getting interesting.

“You got me. I’m damn curious how you managed that while drunk.” Drunken brawling wouldn’t have caught his interest. Muscle memory like she showed is another matter.

Gwen presses her lips together and she leans away. Her walls coming back up. Aaron shifts his weight so he seems more open. A big change in posture wouldn’t work, she’d read it for the act it is. But a small one might slip past her defenses.

“Hey girl, no pressure. Your business is your own. I’m just curious.”

“Curious enough to pretend to flirt?” she returns, as biting as the first time they spoke. Getting the answer he wants is going to be a challenge.

Aaron loves a good challenge.

Taking a risk, he leans towards her, putting some heat in his eyes. A thrill runs through him when she don’t pull back. Instead she lifts her chin. She’s tense but it ain’t with fear. Defiance, annoyance, maybe even a little betrayal. But no fear. Just the way he likes it.

“Wasn’t pretending. I’m into strong women.” Makes the fucking that much more satisfying.

“One of your kinks?” she mocks, but the way her eyes darken tells him the game is still on. Aaron lets his look grow more heated and he lowers his voice.

“Oh yeah.”

Gwen don’t respond, posture remaining closed off. Aaron don’t fill the silence in her stead. Ball’s in her court now. He wonders what she’s gonna do with it.

He sees her come to a decision, but it’s not until she leans towards him that the rush hits. She’s close enough for her breath to mingle with his.

“I didn’t come here to fuck,” she says, on the edge of turning mean. “If you want to change my mind about that, you better make it worth my while.”

Aaron makes no attempt at managing his response. He lets Gwen see exactly what that challenge does to him.

Game on.

Slowly, he brings up a hand. Gwen’s eyes don’t waver from his. Daring him to impress her. 

He’s got no intention of disappointing her.

Aaron brushes his knuckles over her cheek, keeping his touch light. Going in guns blazing ain’t the way here.

Gwen don’t move beneath his touch, but he’s close enough to see her pupils react. Aaron leans closer until he can all but taste her lips. They ain’t touching just yet though.

Instead of kissing her, he strokes her nose with his own. This time her breath hitches, warm air caressing his skin. When she closes her eyes, he smiles.

Yeah, he’s got game.

Finally, he allows their lips to touch. She don’t kiss him back, still determined to make him work for it. He’s got no problem with that.

Tracing her bottom lip with his tongue, he gently bites down on it, brushing his knuckles down her throat right after. The sigh that inspires is stronger than the first. Almost there.

Cupping her cheek, he kisses her again, firmer than before. He puts his fingers to good use by dragging his nails over the sensitive skin behind her ear.

When he starts using tongue, Gwen breaks. She kisses him back, her own tongue coming out to play. Those lips might be skinny but the way she uses her tongue more than makes up for it. Soft and nimble, she keeps up a pace that’s just right. Following his lead enough to keep it smooth, and pushing back enough to keep things interesting.

By the time the kiss ends, her arms are around his neck, hands working the back of his neck, while his own hand has found a home in her hair. The taste of her drink lingers on his tongue.

Gwen looks at him with parted lips, no tension left to be found. Another job well done.

“Okay, that was a great kiss,” she says. Aaron don't hide how fine he's feeling.

“Sure was.” On both their parts. Now that’s a surprise he can get behind. 

He curls a lock of her hair around his finger.

“That worth your while?” he asks in a low voice. The smile Gwen gains sends more heat down his spine.

“I think I need some more convincing. Just to be sure.”

If she insists. 

Aaron kisses her again, as slow as the first. Some guys rush through this, acting like it’s nothing but a stepping stone to the main event. Not him though. When you do it right, this ain’t an appetizer. It’s a whole ass meal.

Aaron always does it right.

He’s starting to think Gwen does too. 

Yeah, going after her was a good idea.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so we see the meeting that began it all... 
> 
> Comments always make my day! That includes keyboard smashing and incoherent screaming :)


	3. The Present - Part 2

They make it out. Aaron drives them to his safe house. Can’t go home, Vanessa will be sending people there.

Aaron hides his bike and leads Miles and Gwen down an abandoned subway tunnel, bare and filthy. Then Aaron goes to a wall, reveals the hidden keypad and types in the password.

The wall opens to a space bigger than his actual place, lights turning on in strategic order. There’s all the things a safe house needs, monitors to watch the perimeter, enough food to lay low for as long as it takes, enough stuff to keep from going crazy during that time, and enough firepower to ruin even a super’s day.

There’s no intruders. The lights and shadows show that.

“Whoa.”

Any other time, Miles would have been all he’d cared about. As it is, Gwen holds most of his concern. The cuts and bruises ain't fading as they should, her breathing still has a rattle, her left leg is broken at best, and she’s got her arms wrapped around her ribs like it's the only thing keeping them in place. He really hopes their escape didn’t worsen things. Too much that is.

Gwen limps inside without looking at him. Miles follows, spinning around as he takes it all in. Aaron ain’t surprised to see him check out weapons and art both.

After getting rid of their tracks, Aaron enters too, locks the door and goes to the servers that keep the whole place running. Powering off his gauntlets and keeping half an eye on Miles as he wanders around and half on Gwen as she sits down the couch, Aaron puts down his gloves, turns on the monitors and engages the security system, checking all sensors and cameras. Then he grabs the nearest medical kit. Super or not, Gwen’s injuries need to be looked at.

The problem. When he nears Gwen, she looks at him with—betrayal—murder.

“Don’t,” she says, voice low and furious and so familiar. She’s turned off her voice modulator. Aaron is about to lift his hands in a calming manner when he realizes just how bad that would land. He picks a different route, shifting his stance to something more business like.

“Need to clean your wounds,” he says in a voice as carefully chosen as the rest of him. And only realizes his modulator makes the effort useless after he’s already spoken. He’s way off his game.

Part of him keeps track of Miles as his nephew tries and fails to be casual in his eavesdropping, but most of him is busy with getting a hold of himself. The problem, Gwen is angry and hurt. That ain’t a good combination for keeping his cool even at the best of times. 

Gwen informs him it’s gonna be worse than ever.

“Take one more step and I’m going to kick your ass.”

He’d deserve it. But she still needs medical attention.

“Gwen—”

“Don’t you dare call me that.”

Aaron clenches his jaw and closes his eyes, taking advantage of the cover of his mask. She’s got a right to be mad, hell, she’s got a right to beat the shit out of him. But she also needs her damage checked, and she needs it now. The rattle to her breath has him scared for her lungs. So, how to get her to agree?

“I didn’t know,” he says. Gwen's disgust tells him he chose the wrong approach. 

“You’ve known for months.”

He has. And he’s been struggling with it since.

Gwen only just found out. When he first learned the truth, he weren't thinking straight either.

None of that changes the damn need to have her injuries checked. Shit, she hasn't let go of her ribs even once.

Gwen lets out a breathless laugh that turns into a coughing fit and Aaron is moving closer before he can help it.

A look of rage is the only warning he gets before her unbroken leg lashes out, a ballet slipper flying at his stomach. He jumps out of the way, getting out of her range. Part of him notes how bad she's been slowed down but most of him is struggling to keep it together as Gwen let out a pained sound and curls in on herself. She hurt herself with that and shit, she _needs_ to let him look her over, needs to let him assess the damage! 

He needs to find a way to get that done.

Gwen informs him it's not happening.

“Stay away from me, Prowler.”

The near hatred hurts as nothing ever has. Then Gwen gets off the couch and limps to the door leading to the bathroom. 

It takes everything he has to let her go. The bathroom contains medical supplies too. With any luck, Gwen will give herself the care she needs without him there. And there’s no vents big enough to fit into. She can’t slip out without him noticing. 

When the door closes behind her, Aaron walks to where the punching bag is set up, putting down the medical kit along the way.

He kicks as hard as he can, does it again when the bag comes swinging back but the armor means it don't hurt and fuck! Gwen is hurt and refusing help and all of it is his own damn fault!

He looks around for something he can afford to break, needing to rage. Then his eyes land on Miles.

Miles jumps back and almost knocks over a spotlight, startled and scared. He's scared of him.

No. Miles is scared of the Prowler.

For a moment, plans on how to keep his nephew in the dark run through his mind. Then real thought takes over.

He can’t keep Miles in the dark. Not when the Black Queen is out for his head.

Aaron takes a deep breath and catches the still swinging punching bag. Having that thing move won’t set the right mood. Then Aaron loosens his shoulders, puts on a stance that's calm and inviting, before he turns off his visor and takes off his mask.

Miles gapes.

“Uncle Aaron?”

"Hey, Miles,” Aaron says with a faint smile, warm and comforting and no different from usual. 

For a long ass moment, Miles stays shocked. Then it makes way for desperate relief.

Miles runs to him and Aaron is there to catch him with a hug. Part of him notes Miles ain't too strong this time, wasn't too fast either, but most of him can only hold his nephew close, all the fear he’d been keeping a lid on now bursting free. Miles is here, he’s fine, he's too tall and he’s safe. 

But is he fine for real?

“You okay, man?” he asks, moving his hands over head, neck, spine, ribs. Feeling for wounds. Yeah, he’d been keeping a close eye on Miles during their escape, on the lookout for any sign of damage. But while Miles looking and moving alright was enough to keep it together then, now that they’re safe, the need to give his nephew a real check takes over.

To his relief, there's no flinching or pulling away. Sure, Miles is breathing hard and shaking some, but it’s caused by a release of tension, not pain.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

Aaron closes his eyes, damn near dizzy. Miles is fine. Miles is safe.

Miles has got a lot of explaining to do.

"Uncle Aaron, what's going on?"

Something close to humor rises. He’d almost forgotten Miles ain’t the only one who's gotta come clean.

Taking a deep breath, Aaron meets his nephew’s gaze and, calm and steady, he explains what’s going on.

“I’m the Prowler.” Something that should be obvious, what with the armor and cape he still got on. But the shock Miles shows tells him he made the right call in saying it out loud.

“How?” Miles asks, not embarrassed by the crack in his voice only cause he’s got bigger things to worry about. Like his uncle being a supervillain.

Damn, it sounds bad when put like that.

“It’s my job, man,” Aaron says with a smile, acting like it’s all good and showing enough tension for it to read to read more real than false. Not fair to Miles, his nephew ain’t old enough yet to spot when he’s being played. But the thought of being blunt about this, of telling it to Miles straight and seeing the betrayal...

“Being the Prowler is your job,” Miles says just like Jeff does when he can't believe something is happening for real. It makes real humor rise but that fades when Miles shakes his head, shock making way for confusion. For denial. For a real understanding of what his job means.

“But the Prowler... he’s not a good guy.”

_And you are._

Yeah, that one hurts.

“Everyone’s got secrets, Miles,” he says softly. 

The way Miles keeps looking at him, the loss of faith he can see happening, breaks him fast.

“But I’m out now. No more Prowler.” And ain’t it funny how easy it is to say that and mean it? All these years of telling himself he’d never be able to give up the rush, and all it takes is one look from his nephew to prove him a liar. If he’d done this even half a year ago, he wouldn’t be in this mess.

If he’d done this half a year ago, he wouldn’t have lost Gwen.

She's still not moving. He kept the wall to the bathroom thin on purpose, if she were moving, he’d hear. But there’s nothing. If that don't change soon, he's gonna need to check on her.

Miles frowns, loss of faith making way for a new round of confusion. It's a huge relief.

“Just like that?” Miles asks. Aaron nods.

“Just like that.” Though he’ll have to kill Vanessa first. Tombstone and some others too loyal for their own good too. Miles won’t be safe till they’re dead. But after that, he’s done. No more hits, he’ll stick to robbing rich assholes, doing the whole Robin Hood thing. Will give him the rush he needs without losing his nephew’s respect.

He really should have done this sooner. Should have done this for Gwen.

Miles relaxes. Aaron’s got no words for how that makes him feel. Miles still trusts him.

He don’t deserve that trust. Only reason Miles is willing to forgive him is cause he hasn’t given the Prowler thing real thought yet. Hasn’t thought of the blood staining his uncle’s hands.

If Aaron has his way, Miles ain’t gonna be thinking of that for a long while yet. Which means it’s time to change the subject.

Aaron puts a hand on his nephew’s shoulder and guides him to the couch.

“Come on, let’s grab a seat so we can talk.”

But not, Aaron realizes way too late, on the couch. Gwen’s blood is on it. Will need to clean that up. 

Aaron turns Miles around so they’re walking to the kitchen table, acting like that was his plan all along.

He’s damn glad Miles follows with ease. Even better, Miles ain't thinking of anything he'd rather not. The excitement his nephew is showing makes that clear.

Water starts running in the bathroom. Can hear cabinets being opened too. Thank fuck.

“So this is like your lair?” Miles asks. Aaron feels a real smile grow. The topic might be dangerous but that don’t change how cute his nephew is.

“You could say that.”

“That’s so dope.”

Only cause Miles hasn’t given real thought to why he’d need a place like this.

They take a seat. Miles pulls up a leg and wraps an arm around it, before putting it down and tapping the table. Lingering nerves from the action he went through. The sight reminds him Miles needs to eat. He burned through a lot of energy tonight.

“You hungry?” he asks while getting up.

“Starving.”

No surprise there. Now that Aaron's been reminded of it himself, his stomach is making itself known too.

Aaron grabs some of the better canned goods. Pasta. Carbs are what they need now. Spicy, cause Miles likes it that way.

Aaron keeps his voice light.

“So how about you tell me how you ended up in that place?”

Miles freezes before he does a bad job at being casual.

“Oh, you know, was in the neighborhood. Thought I’d check out the sights.”

Normally Aaron would play along but this is no joking matter. He gives Miles a look that tells his nephew just that. 

Miles loses the act, slumping down. His eyes dart to him before settling on the hand still tapping the table.

“...You remember when we went painting?”

Ain't nothing that could make him forget. Every time is a treasure he hoards close.

Miles means the painting they did yesterday. Funny how that feels like a lifetime ago.

“I remember,” he says, gentle and with no push. Will make Miles feel more at ease. Same for continuing to prep their food. 

Miles shoves his hands into his jacket, still finding it hard to look at him.

“When we left, I got bitten by a spider. I don’t think it was a normal one.”

The pieces drop into place. The speed, the strength, the three inches Miles has somehow shot up in a single day.

Aaron realizes he’s frozen in a stare when Miles gives him an uncertain look. Gotta put him at ease.

Aaron shakes his head and lets out a low whistle.

“That’s gotta been tough, man.” 

Miles lets out a soul deep sigh. Picked the right approach.

“You’ve got no idea.”

Aaron listens with shock and growing fear as Miles talks about shrunk pants and too loud thoughts and hands that wouldn’t stop sticking. He’s grateful he’s got to heat their meal. Lets him move around instead of staring at Miles like a dumbass.

“I tried calling but you didn’t pick up.”

 _Fuck_.

“So you went back to the tunnels?” he asks while stirring the pot he dropped the sauce into. Keep it together, get all the info.

Miles tried to call him. And he didn’t pick up. His nephew needed him and he wasn’t there.

“Yeah, I just... it’s stupid but I wanted to see the spider was normal, you know?” 

Miles don’t need him to say it wasn’t stupid at all before launching into the next part of what's a nightmare come to life. For real, he dreamed something damn close to this after finding out about Gwen.

“But it wasn’t, it did this weird glitching thing, and then my head went crazy and next thing I know, I’m stuck in a fight between Spider-Woman and the Green Goblin! Man, that guy is _huge_.”

Was huge. Goblin’s dead now.

Don’t tell Miles that. And don’t freak out over Miles getting caught up in a battle between supers. Don’t matter how easy his nephew could have been killed, he survived and he’s safe now.

“It was insane, I thought I was gonna die!”

Aaron somehow manages to grab juice and glasses instead of punching something. He’s grateful Miles is so caught up in his tale, hands moving around as he talks. Would have noticed how big an act Aaron is putting on otherwise.

“But then Spider-Woman caught me!”

Aaron's never been more grateful for Spider-Woman’s soft heart. Gwen’s soft heart.

The water in the bathroom is still running. She using the bath?

“It was amazing, she caught me like it was nothing and then we went like this.”

Miles uses both arms to mimic how badass the swing was and gives him an excited grin. Aaron smiles back on habit and hopes Miles is too distracted to notice how fake it is. 

Miles ain’t too distracted. Aaron changes that by putting a bowl of pasta in front of him and encouraging his nephew to keep getting it all off his chest.

“Then what happened?” he asks like he ain’t freaking out inside. Miles gives him a searching look but soon concludes the show is real. Or he’s willing to play along at least. Probably the latter. Kid's getting older.

He could have stopped getting older today. Could have died so many times.

Miles fiddles with his fork, a frown growing. Having trouble finding the right words. Aaron grabs his own bowl and sits down. He drinks some juice but don’t eat yet. Too much risk of throwing up if his nephew drops another bombshell.

“It was... I mean, she told me I shouldn’t be there, but then...”

Don’t push. Let him find the words on his own.

“It was weird. My head went crazy again, but it was different. Like...”

Miles makes a face and wiggles a hand next to his head. Aaron has just figured out why Miles is having so much trouble with this when his nephew keeps going.

“And I knew. She’s like me.”

Aaron has to close his eyes, his grip on the glass too tight. He’d figured it out already but hearing it out loud makes it more real. It’s even worse cause it came with a reminder that Spider-Woman’s powers ain’t limited to physical, she’s a psychic too. And now, so is Miles.

Jeff is gonna get a major headache.

Rubbing a hand over his head, Aaron gets up and goes to grab a painkiller. Both cause he needs to move and cause he’s gonna need it to keep his own headache at bay. Or keep it from growing too bad at least.

“You okay, uncle Aaron?”

No he ain’t.

“Yeah, man, I’m good,” he says in a comforting way. He keeps his back to Miles though. No way his face can sell the act right now. “Just need a minute to process.” Need at least a week. And he needs that cause his nephew is a super. No small fry either, oh no, Miles is one of the big guns. How the hell is he gonna deal with that?

A worry for later. Solve the more pressing problems first.

The main problem is Vanessa. But that ain’t something he can solve today either, need a good night’s rest before tackling that mess. So, before going to sleep, what’s gotta get done?

Aaron makes a list, orders it and gets to work. Easier to keep it together when he’s got a plan to follow.

Returning to Miles, he tells his nephew to eat up and sets a good example by doing just that. Miles is hesitant at first, but it only takes one bite for him to start scarfing down the entire thing. Aaron pops the painkiller without Miles noticing.

Miles finishes before him. Aaron starts thinking of ways to steer the conversation to safe waters. 

Disgust hits hard. His nephew is the only one he ain't ever played, not for his own ends that is, yet it only takes one bad break for that to change? Fuck, but he’s a bastard.

To his relief, Miles is oblivious to his thoughts. Too busy trying to get his game on. There's something his nephew wants known, and he wants it bad.

“So what’s up with you and Spider-Woman?”

Aaron hesitates. He’s got no desire to talk about him and Gwen. But this ain’t about what he wants. Miles comes first.

It still takes a lot of work to get the words out.

“We used to date.”

“Wait, what?”

Any other time, Aaron would have been amused. As it is, it’s a struggle to keep looking even somewhat relaxed.

The water in the bathroom has stopped running.

“You and Spider-Woman used to date?"

Miles delivers the question like saying it out loud will get the words to make sense. When it don't, his nephew's hands come up to help with the next attempt.

"Spider-Woman and you dated? You went on dates with Spider-Woman?”

“It was casual.”

The lie is out before he can help it.

Miles calls bullshit.

“Seriously, uncle Aaron?”

Aaron bites back another reflexive lie. Gotta stay honest. Miles deserves that.

Miles ain’t making it easy.

“That didn’t look casual to me.”

And just how many girls has your scrawny ass been with?

Aaron rubs a hand over his head, drinks the last of his juice and gets up. Gwen needs food too. Though he’s gonna need to be careful in what he offers. If he makes her something nice, there’s too much risk of having it thrown at his head.

Shakes will be best. Will deliver the nutrients the fastest. And the shit taste will work in his favour here. He hopes.

“It’s complicated,” he tells Miles while grabbing what he needs.

“Cause you didn’t know she was Spider-Woman?”

Cause he’s a selfish bastard.

“Something like that,” Aaron says before moving to another cabinet. It’s got Gwen’s favorite candy, and for some dumbass reason, him having stashed her favourites in his safe house hits hard. 

"That's gotta be tough, man."

Nice throw back. No joke, that was smooth.

"Wasn't fun, I'll tell you that much," he says and keeps Miles from prying some more by putting all the goods in front of him and pointing at them. “Sport water. Full of vitamins and shit. Protein shakes. Tastes like crap but it’s got all you need to heal. Salted caramel. Will get rid of the taste.” Here’s to hoping Gwen won’t throw out that last. The water and shakes she should accept though. Spider-Woman is practical like that.

“Am I supposed to drink all that?” Miles asks, distracted as intended. 

Ah hell. Here he goes again, playing his nephew. Gotta do better. But for now, Aaron keeps going. They’re on a schedule here.

“You’re supposed to give it to Spider-Woman.” Gwen won’t accept it from him.

“Me? Why not you?”

Miles realizes how dumb a question that is all on his own. Aaron gives him a smile more real than not.

“Hang on, she needs clothes too,” he says and walks the closet, glad to have an excuse to move. After grabbing hoodie, boxers and sweatpants, he grabs a thermal blanket, before deciding to go for some pillows as well. Most likely, Gwen is gonna stay inside the bathroom till she feels fit enough to sneak out.

He'll offer three pillows. Enough to keep her leg lifted but not enough to keep comfortable. With any luck, she'll be offended by that and get Miles to get her more stuff. Wish he could offer a bedroll without tricks but then she’d definitely throw it out. The clothes and pillows are a big enough risk as it is. For once, Gwen’s contrary streak is working against him.

Miles gathers the bottles and candy and follows after him, shifting in place as Aaron digs out too few pillows. Aaron really hopes Gwen is gonna be pretty about this.

“What do I say to her?”

“Say you don’t want her to bleed out.” Will make Gwen feel like she’s gotta show she’s fine, meaning she’s gonna give her injuries real thought and care. It’s a precaution, Spider-Woman hasn’t lived as long as she has by being stupid. But better safe than sorry.

“She could bleed out?”

The real fear draws all of his concern. Then Aaron realizes just how bad a response that was. 

“Figure of speech, man,” he says with a smile. He’s glad it succeeds in calming down Miles. Now, stop acting like a dumbass and get back in the game. 

They’re near enough to the bathroom for Gwen to pick up on their talk. Gotta be careful with what he says.

“But she’s hurt pretty bad,” Aaron continues smoothly. “Would be a good idea to check on her.”

“She’s going to be fine though, right? I mean, she’s Spider-Woman.”

“Course she is,” Aaron says like he’s got no doubt 'bout that. “She’s gotten through way worse than this.”

She hasn’t. This is one lie he don’t mind telling Miles though. And if Gwen is listening in, this is gonna land better than a guilt trip.

It's still gonna land bad.

Balancing clothes and bedding, Aaron gently bumps his hips against his nephew’s side and softens his voice. Miles will think he’s doing it for him, and while that ain’t wrong, Aaron is hoping it will keep Gwen from overhearing too.

“Just ask her if she’s alright, and tell her you’ve got some stuff that will help. That’s all you gotta say.”

“Ask if she’s alright and tell her I’ve got stuff to help,” Miles repeats to himself, nervous in that cute as shit way of his. Then his nephew clears his throat and tries to be smooth. “Right, I can do that. Just walk up to Spider-Woman and say that. No problem, I got this, man.”

Aaron feels a real smile grow. Miles is gonna mess up for sure.

Gwen will find it cute. He hopes.

“Do I call her Gwen?” Miles asks, and hearing Gwen’s name come from his nephew raises a whole new ache. Makes it hit home just how much he wants Miles and Gwen to get along.

“Not unless she says you can,” Aaron says, showing no sign of the thoughts running through his head. Then he hesitates. Given how pissed Gwen is, there’s a good chance she's gonna talk shit about him. He wouldn’t mind that with anyone else, but with Miles...

Aaron kneels down and puts down the bedding so he can place a hand on his nephew’s shoulder. 

Miles looks at him with a trust he’s desperate not to lose.

“She might say some bad stuff about me.” All of it true. “But Miles, you gotta know. There ain’t nothing that could make me hurt you.”

Miles frowns.

“Yeah, I know,” he says like Aaron is a dumbass for needing to spell that out. The relief hits hard.

It lessens as his nephew’s eyes dart down his suit and his confusion makes way for awkward understanding. Aaron gets things back on track by squeezing his shoulder, before handing over the bedding for Miles to carry. 

Miles struggles to keep everything balanced, meaning his nephew’s got no room left to think about his uncle being a supervillain.

Shit, he did it again. This is gonna grate fast.

“Ready?” Aaron asks. Miles nods, doing his best to look like a man and not a boy in way over his head. Aaron acts like Miles is nailing it and gestures at him to get going.

Miles walks to the bathroom. Aaron moves so he’ll be out of Gwen’s line of sight when she opens the door. Things will go smoother that way.

Miles shifts in place and glances at him. Nervous and looking for encouragement. Aaron smiles and leans against the wall, looking like he’s got no doubt over his nephew’s ability to pull this off. Ain’t an act, he knows Miles can do this. Won’t go as smooth as his nephew is hoping for though.

The confidence boost makes Miles straighten his back. He clears his throat.

“Spider-Woman? It’s Miles. Uhm, the kid from the collider?”

Miles closes his eyes with a wince. Embarrassed at calling himself a kid. He shakes it off pretty well though. 

“Are you alright? I’ve got some stuff to help.”

It’s hella cute how pleased Miles is with getting it right. But his nephew’s nerves return when the door stays closed. Gwen don’t speak either. No sounds of her moving around too. Aaron keeps a lid on the fear trying to take over.

Did she pass out? Does she need real surgery? Did she somehow manage to slip out?

If she don’t respond soon, he’s gonna check the bathroom cameras. 

“Spider-Woman?” Miles asks, worried.

There’s a shuffling sound and then the door opens. Takes a lot of effort not to sigh with relief. Too much risk of Gwen hearing.

He wishes he could see her. And is glad he can't at the same time, cause seeing her broken and battered would derail him all over again. Can't afford that now.

Miles gives him a last look before going inside. 

The moment the door closes behind him, Aaron drops the act, slumping hard and bringing up his hands to sigh into. What a fucking mess. 

He’s about to make things even harder on himself. Not looking forward to that. Gotta do it though.

After allowing himself a few more moments to freak, Aaron pulls it together.

He’s got a call to make.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had so much fun writing this chapter. Miles is adorable. And has it so much easier now that he 1) hasn't been traumatized by watching his hero die, and 2) isn't being chased by his lethal uncle.
> 
> Aaron, on the other hand, has it so much worse. But it's all his own fault really, he's the one who decided to become a supervillain. As for Gwen, well. She survived the collider, so that's a win there already. It can only go up from here.
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! And if you leave a kudos or comment, you'll make my holidays :)


	4. The Past - Part 2

Taking Gwen to a hotel turns out to be a great call.

“Done this before, have you?” she asks when they check in, amused at the recognition shown by the receptionist. When they left the bar, she told him to lead the way. 

Aaron led the way to his usual hookup spot. No way is he taking her back to his place. 

“Why mess with what works?” he returns, stroking a hand down her spine. Takes a little work to do it properly, she’s got a bag slung over one shoulder. Her smile tells him he got it right though. Then Gwen mirrors the gesture.

Unlike him, she uses nails. Aaron ain’t complaining.

They don’t kiss on the way to the room, and it makes the tension between them that much sweeter. When they enter, Gwen barely looks at what they have to work with, turning to face him instead. Her smile is wicked.

This is gonna be fun.

Aaron closes the distance between them, anticipation running high. But when he reaches for her, Gwen startles, and she puts a hand on his chest to keep him at bay. Aaron raises a brow, asking what’s up. She’s not backing out, that much is clear.

“I need to use the bathroom,” she blurts. Then she gains a slight flush, looking embarrassed. Aaron pretends to find that cute. The mood ain’t broken for him, and he don’t want it broken for her either.

“It’s over there.”

Gwen gives an awkward smile before she darts towards the bathroom. Gotta admire how light she is on her feet.

Aaron keeps an ear out for suspicious sounds as she does her business, would be a fool not to. But he also takes the opportunity to take off his jacket, take out some condoms, grab a spare sheet from the closet and lay it on the bed, and then he pops a breath mint and checks if he’s still looking fine. 

He is.

Taking off his shoes, he sits down the bed in a way he knows looks damn good, one knee raised while his other leg hangs off the edge.

The position allows him to jump to his feet with ease. The night light is within grabbing range. Can throw it should this turn out to be a trap. It’s a precaution, he don’t believe she’s got ulterior motives, and his instincts are rarely wrong when it comes to this. But being cocky is how you end up dead.

When Gwen comes out, she's bare footed too, her hair looks great, she’s touched up her make-up, and most important of all, she’s lost the hoodie. Now she’s got a long sleeved shirt that fits her like a glove. It’s amazing what difference that makes. Broad shoulders, strong arms, toned abs, a waist inviting him to pull her close, and thighs even more impressive now that they’re no longer half hidden.

If she’d been wearing this from the start, he never would have underestimated her.

“Like what you see?” she asks, dropping her bag down the cabinet and sashaying towards him. Gotta love a woman who knows how to work it.

“Oh yeah,” he says, enjoying the sway of her hips. When she gets within range, he wastes no time in getting his arms around her waist. Then he explores the shape of her ass. It’s full and tight enough to bounce a coin off. Nice.

Gwen grins and twines her arms around his neck. Her fingers get to work on the base of his skull. 

“Should have known you’re an ass man.”

“How so?” he asks, his curiosity real. Most of his attention is still on that fine ass though. There’s also the hands now making their way to the back of his ears. 

“You never looked at me like you were trying to guess my bra size.”

Aaron grins. 

“Wouldn’t have been able to guess anyway. You’re running free there.”

He follows it up with an appreciative inspection of the bra-less breasts displayed right in front of him. Ass man he might be, but Gwen's chest is fine indeed. Full enough to fill his hands, and so perky they don’t require any kind of support. The lack of bra also means he can see her nipples clear as day. Part of him wonders if she took off her bra during the bathroom trip, or if she was going commando the entire time.

He’s more occupied with putting his mouth over a nipple and lavishing it with his tongue, soaking the fabric through within moments. Gwen’s sharp intake of breath is music to his ears. 

He’s looking forward to finding out what other sounds she can make.

Still playing with her nipple, he squeezes her ass, before going lower and stroking the sensitive skin between thigh and pussy. It earns him a low moan. Fuck, but he loves to make women sing.

Gwen pushes his shoulders, making him release her nipple and tilt his head back. She looks down at him with pupils blown wide.

“We’re getting naked now.”

He chuckles. Gwen has no reaction to it, too busy pulling off her shirt. Aaron’s humor makes way for a burst of caution that quickly turns to interest.

She’s got scars. They’re old and faded, but some of them came from nasty shit. Aaron wants to taste them.

He sees no reason to deny himself.

Placing his mouth on the pink line crossing her lower ribs, he traces the scar with his tongue, enjoying how the rough texture cuts through otherwise smooth skin. 

Gwen hums, a pleased sound he wants to hear more of. But all in good time.

He gets even harder when Gwen slips a hand beneath his shirt, exploring his back. Her other caresses his jaw. Some guys like to have their women act shy in bed but Aaron ain’t one of them. This is a dance meant for two.

When she tugs at his shirt, he lifts his arms so she can take it off. Gwen drops it without a care, never looking away from him as she sits down his lap. Bringing them at eye level. While his hands find her ass again, she strokes her nose over his. Using his own moves against him. It makes a smile tug at his lips.

The smile is wiped away when she rolls her hips. He groans and pushes back, chasing the wet heat he can feel even through their clothing.

Gwen rakes her nails down his back, almost too hard. He loves it.

Placing his hand on the back of her head, he shows his appreciation by kissing her senseless. A thrill runs through him when she gives as good as she gets, tongue clashing with his own and her hips keeping up that smooth beat. She’s a dancer alright. She also took a breath mint, same as him. The good news just keeps on coming.

Judging from the smile he feels against his lips, Gwen appreciates the fresh breath too.

It don’t take long before he’s gotta get free. After sucking on her earlobe and reveling in the moan that draws, he speaks.

“Pants.”

Gwen lets out a hum of agreement before she goes in for another kiss, hips still dancing with his. Aaron ain’t complaining. She can get off him after this ends.

He’s not expecting her to somehow pull off her pants without ever breaking the kiss. Yeah, her hips pull back briefly and he feels her legs move, but he only becomes aware of what she did when she presses against his dick again, hotter and way wetter than before. It makes him groan cause fuck, that feels good. But also, did she seriously just get naked without him noticing?

Sliding down the hand he had on her back to make sure, he discovers that yeah, she’s lost pants and panties both.

Her ass is one of the sweetest he’s ever held.

“The hell?” he asks. Not his finest moment but it’s hard to speak when she’s moving like that. Even more so with her hands exploring his sides. Girl knows how to use her nails.

Gwen pulls back enough to give him one hell of a grin.

“I’m limber.”

No kidding.

He’s still a bit off-balance when Gwen demonstrates the limber thing some more by wrapping her legs around his waist, her pussy right up his dick and fuck, the only reason he’s not sliding in is cause he’s still wearing pants himself.

The pants have gotta go. Now.

Grabbing that sweet ass with both hands, he rolls them over. Puts him in an awkward position, what with Gwen still clinging to him like he’s her favorite toy. Good thing he’s used to crouching.

Aaron licks her jaw before speaking.

“Gotta get my pants off.”

“Can’t match me then?”

Aaron pulls back enough to give Gwen the look that deserves. She’s seriously challenging him about this?

Gwen’s smug smile tells him, yeah, she seriously is. She proves it some more by letting go of him, arms and legs both, and lying down the bed like a porn star. Aaron ain’t planning on letting this go but he’s not gonna reject the show she’s putting on either. Her legs are wide open, showing off a dripping pussy. Her bush is trimmed but every other part is smooth, making her juices stand out all the more. It makes his dick throb, and he wonders what she’d sound like if he were to go down on her. Shame he don’t know if she’s clean or not.

He can still leave a shit ton of hickeys on the inside of her thighs. Later, cause his pants really do need to go. Now.

Holding her gaze, he straightens up and unbuckles his belt like he’s got all the time in the world. It makes her lips part. Realizing he’s taking her up on that challenge.

The challenge is to get his pants off without her noticing.

Gwen lifts a leg with the clear intention to stroke his dick through his pants. Aaron grabs her ankle before she can succeed. Lifting her leg even higher, he holds her gaze as he bites down her calf, lavishing the spot with his tongue after. Adds in some sucking too. What can he say, he likes leaving marks.

Gwen moans, and the arms that were held above her head now come down to play with her breasts. Fuck, but he wants to be inside her.

He’s not gonna ruin this by rushing.

Leaning forward, he strokes his hand down the inside of her thigh. A rush goes through him when she hooks her ankle around his neck like it’s no big deal. Limber is the word alright.

He runs his nails along the edge of her pussy but don’t touch her where she wants him to. Gwen don’t like that.

“Stop teasing.”

“Gimme a kiss and I’ll consider it,” he says, a dare as smug as her own. Gwen narrows her eyes before she plays into his trap by sitting up with abs alone. 

Her ankle is still around his neck. He was right about the challenge still being on her mind too. And yeah, he knows she's expecting him to go for a bending trick like she did, but if she wanted that, she should have been more specific.

Gwen holds his gaze as she cups his face with both hands. Showing off her core strength some more. It’s damn impressive. 

While Gwen gives another demonstration of how great a kisser she is, Aaron uses her distraction to get out of his pants and boxers without notice. He hopes. There was more noise involved than he’d like. But he managed to keep up with her kissing. That should have held her attention.

Time to find out if he got it right.

Gwen breaks their kiss, her nails trailing down his throat.

“That good enough for you?” she asks, all dare and no awareness. Aaron smiles. Gotcha.

“Yeah, that works.”

With that, he pulls her leg off his shoulder and straightens up. Gwen’s eyes dart down with anticipation before they widen with surprise as she sees his naked dick.

She laughs. Always nice to have a graceful loser.

“Alright, that’s impressive,” she says with a grin.

“Just impressive?” he returns in a low voice, grabbing a condom without looking away from her and opening the package with his teeth. Took an embarrassing amount of practice before he could do this without ruining the condom, but the reaction it gets is worth it. Gwen’s humor makes way for renewed heat. She leans towards him and unashamedly inspects his dick before meeting his gaze again. Aaron knows he ain't the biggest, but he's not small either and he's got a nice shape going on. 

Gwen makes clear she appreciates the view.

“Very impressive,” she fucking purrs. Aaron puts on the condom, more than ready to take this to the next level. 

He strokes the inside of her thigh before finally touching that pussy. Trailing his fingers over those pink lips, he gets his digits nice and slick.

Gwen closes her eyes, a sweet moan drawn from her throat. Pretty sure she’s not a screamer, but he’s willing to bet he’s gonna be drawing some interesting sounds from her still.

He uses his thumb to stroke her clit and watches her response. The fingering won’t be happening for long, but knowing if she likes it soft or hard is important. It’s also hot as fuck to watch.

Gwen leans back and spreads her legs, making his dick throb some more. Her head is tilted back and the canvas is too good to resist. Aaron leans over and sucks hard on her collarbone. Leaving a mark she’s gonna feel for days.

Gwen don’t tell him to stop. Instead she gasps and pushes into his mouth. He loves it when women are into being marked.

“Harder,” she gasps. At first he thinks she’s talking about the sucking, which fuck yeah, but then her hand covers he one still playing with her pussy. That’s almost as good as his first thought really.

Aaron lifts his head and holds Gwen’s gaze as he follows the rhythm she’s setting up. He can mark her some more after he's appreciated the show.

It don’t take long for him to figure out the basics. She likes it firm and slow, with the occasional burst of speed to keep things interesting. Likes some fingers inside as well and damn, she’s tight. Gotta love a woman who works out.

When he’s gotten the rhythm down, he pulls her hand off before he changes position so he can get to work on those thighs. He’s not gonna hold much longer but damn if he won’t do this first. Those legs are too gorgeous to leave clean.

The sucking and fingering draws more sounds from her than everything else combined. It’s music to his ears. Things become even better when she gets a foot on his back and shows off just how much control she has over it, digging her heel into muscle with all the skill of a pro. That feels damn good.

After a final bite, he lifts his head so he can admire the bruises he made. The sight gets him even harder. 

Yeah, it’s time to fuck her.

Lifting his hand from her pussy earns him a strangled sound and a fierce glare.

“Don’t you dare stop!”

The warning goes straight to his dick.

“Wasn’t planning on it,” he says, crawling towards her. Fuck but he can’t wait to be inside her.

Judging from the way Gwen’s eyes darken, she can’t either. She pushes herself further up the bed, something part of Aaron appreciates. Gives them more space to work with.

He’s more focused on lining himself up so he can slide home. Rubbing his dick over her pussy to get it slick, he grabs hold of Gwen’s waist with one hand and uses his other for support. Gwen gets a hand on his shoulder, her other braced against the headboard. 

She keeps holding his gaze. The eye contact is one of the many things he’s loving here.

Aaron thrust inside and then his eyes are closing and he’s groaning because fuck, she’s tight and the sounds she’s letting out are all pleasure. 

Opening his eyes and making sure his position is stable, Aaron starts fucking her for real, strokes long and deep and shit, she’s moaning and digging her nails into his shoulder, her eyes closed and her head thrown back, and then his own eyes are closing again, instinct taking over.

He’s got enough clarity left to change his hold on her waist, grabbing her ass instead. It makes him slide in even deeper. Shit, why was he doing this again?

Because he needs to use his other hand to get her off. Got it.

Except before he can do that, Gwen swings a leg over his shoulder, throwing him off-balance but fuck, he ain’t complaining, he so ain’t. Then there’s another chaos of movement and he’s falling backwards, his eyes flying open as he tries to catch his balance but that’s fucking hard to do when he’s going deeper than he thought possible.

He’s sitting on his knees. Gwen pushed him back. And she’s gotten both ankles around his neck.

She’s bouncing on his dick like she ain’t bent like a fucking pretzel and shit, he’s gonna blow.

No way is he finishing first.

Letting go of her ass with one hand and absently wondering when he even got both hands there, he tries to get to her clit. Ain’t easy and he’s not sure how he actually manages. Hard to think through the yoga being done to his dick. But he knows when he succeeds because Gwen cries out and clenches like a fucking vice, and his balls feel like they’re about to blow up but she’s not cumming yet. Don’t cum when he gets a better rhythm either and he’s not gonna hold out much longer and damn it woman, would you just cum?

In a burst of inspiration, he leans forward, gets his mouth on her throat and sucks hard.

Gwen cums and it’s like fucking fireworks go off. Aaron blows his load so hard his vision goes white, pure pleasure wiping out everything else. Fucking damn.

When feeling returns, Aaron discovers he’s no longer on his knees. Instead he’s fallen forward and is lying on top of Gwen. Who still has her legs around his shoulders.

“Damn.”

Hearing his own voice helps clear his thoughts some more. He’s feeling that all the way down to his toes, and he’s panting like he just went up against Spider-Woman. Gwen’s breathing is just as loud, her chest heaving beneath his.

Gwen lets out a breathless laugh.

“Right back at you.”

Part of Aaron is impressed she can still talk after that. His own tongue is all but numb.

Most of him can’t believe she’s still bent like a pretzel.

“You comfy?” he murmurs, wondering if he should push her legs off. That would mean moving though.

Gwen lets out a questioning hum. Aaron is preparing to repeat himself when Gwen apparently remembers she’s got a bone structure. Her legs slide off his shoulders. 

It makes him realize he’s gotta move too. Sucks.

With a lot of effort, Aaron grabs the base of the condom and pulls out. Rolling to his back, he pulls off the rubber, ties it closed and blindly drops it in the trashcan he put next to the bed just for this. 

Gwen rolls to her side and gets comfortable against him, throwing a leg over his own and using his arm as a pillow. Cuddler, huh?

Aaron strokes her back, still savoring the aftermath. No doubt, this was top ten material, if not top five.

When he’s cooled down enough to think for real again, he nudges Gwen. They’ve got some stuff to do before they can sleep.

“Time to clean up,” he says, lazy but firm. 

Gwen lets out a deep sigh. Not feeling the moving thing. But she gets up soon enough.

Aaron admires the view as she walks to the bathroom. Again, that’s one fine ass. The bruises on her thighs, peeking out as she walks, only make it even hotter. Who cares about the front not being his type when she’s got a back like this.

When he hears the shower turn on, Aaron gets up too. Grabbing the top sheet, he bunches it up and throws it in the corner, uncaring about the mess it makes. The benefits of this not being his place. Then he lifts his arms and stretches like a cat. Ain’t nothing like a good fuck to relax.

Grabbing some tissues, he gets rid of the worst of the stickiness, before he sits down the edge of the bed and waits for Gwen to finish. When she does, he grabs his valuables and switches places.

Getting out of the shower, Aaron muses on the odds of there being a second round in the morning. The cuddling makes him think she’s not the type to love ‘em and leave ‘em, but that’s more instinct than real proof. She could have cuddled exactly because she was planning to take off while he’s busy.

His instincts turn out to be right. When he leaves the bathroom, he finds Gwen in bed. Lifting the covers, he joins her. Like him, she’s wearing underwear only. Nice.

“How do you feel about cuddling?” she asks without opening her eyes. 

“I dig it,” he says, getting comfortable. “Gotta sleep on my back though.” He don’t get people who can sleep on their side. Feels awful.

Gwen smiles. 

“I can work with that.”

With that, she gets comfortable against him, placing her pillow against his shoulder and throwing a leg and arm around him. Feels even better now that they’re no longer sticky with sweat and other things. Aaron hums and places a hand over the one she’s got on his chest, his other caressing the back of her head.

There’s no more talk. Aaron appreciates that. While he’s good at talking, at the end of the day, he’s a man of few words. 

He’ll talk again in the morning. Looking forward to it actually. He’s curious to find out if this was a fluke or if she can blow his mind again.

Turns out, there’s no second round. When he wakes, Gwen is gone.


	5. The Present - Part 3

Before calling, Aaron grabs the best bedroll he's got plus a pile of pillows, and places them near the bathroom. He can't help but overhear Gwen asking Miles to help wrap up her ribs but he forces himself to get out of range before hearing more.

He grabs a burner phone and headset. If Miles comes out, Aaron don’t want him to figure out who he’s calling without getting a heads up first.

The phone rings for a long ass time. Just as Aaron fears he’s gonna land on voicemail, the call gets picked up.

“Officer Davis speaking.”

If Aaron weren’t so relieved, he’d be exasperated at just how much of a cop his brother is.

“Hey, big brother,” he says while walking to the sink, careful to keep his back to the bathroom. This ain’t a talk he wants to stand still for.

“Aaron?” Jeff asks, confused. Using an unknown number will do that.

“So I’ve got some bad news,” Aaron continues like Jeff didn’t say anything. Best way to handle this is to lay it out straight. And he's keeping the start light cause there’s a difference between laying it out straight and sucker punching someone.

His response makes Jeff sigh like he expected nothing else. Always touching to see the faith his brother has in him.

“What do you need?” 

Aaron has to close his eyes and grip the counter. All the trouble between them, and his big brother’s first thought is still to look out for him.

That’s gonna change after Jeff learns what he did.

Aaron takes a deep breath and speaks in a voice as grim as the situation demands.

“I need you and Rio to grab a bag and go to Sixth Avenue.”

“Wait, what?” 

Unlike with Miles, the demand is all worry. Aaron grabs bucket, product and rags, and starts filling the bucket with hot water. Gotta get the blood off the couch before the stains set in.

“Grab anything you don’t want lost, stuff it in a bag, and go to Sixth Avenue,” he says, serious and clear. “I’ll meet you there.”

“Now hang on a minute—”

“You gotta do it now, Jeff,” he interrupts. He’d like to tell himself he’s only doing it cause they can’t afford to waste time, but the truth is he really don’t want to listen to his brother chew him out. And yeah, he knows he can't avoid it, but he sure as hell can delay it.

“Aaron, what did you do?”

Something that’s gonna break your law loving heart.

“Don’t tell anyone where you’re going,” he says like Jeff didn’t speak, moving to the table and grabbing the dirty bowls and cutlery. Will do the dishes after he’s gotten rid of the blood. “That includes your cop buddies. I mean it, Jeff, no one—”

“Aaron, what did you do?”

The shock is gone, replaced by what Aaron likes to call Jeff’s cop mode. It’s instinct to deflect but Aaron pushes down the urge. Wouldn’t work on Jeff, his brother is like a dog with a bone.

His brother deserves the truth.

“I messed up.”

Like it was planned, the bathroom opens and Aaron hears what can only be the bag of candy come hurling out. He don’t manage to cover the mic in full before it hits a spotlight hard enough to send it crashing to the floor. Aaron closes his eyes and, mic covered so Jeff can’t hear, he takes a calming breath. He deserved that.

“What was that?”

His bad decisions coming to bite him in the ass.

He’s glad the door gets slammed shut fast. Lets him respond to Jeff without missing a beat.

“Nothing, just knocked over a light,” he says while turning off the water and moving to the crashed lamp, checklist changing order. Unplug the light first, clean the blood second, and then get rid of the broken glass and candy. “Look, I’ll explain when you’re here, but right now you and Rio gotta move. Your home ain’t safe.”

Jeff sucks in a sharp breath and Aaron knows what’s coming before his brother speaks.

“Miles—”

“Is with me,” he says, still firm but way gentle too. “He’s safe.” And Aaron is gonna keep it that way no matter what.

Jeff lets out a cry that starts out relieved but ends up mad as hell. Great.

“Damn it, Aaron!”

And here comes the lecture. Aaron lowers the volume before grabbing the cleaning supplies and moving to the couch, still careful to keep his back to the bathroom.

“You always do this, running into trouble without a care for who you’re gonna hurt, and then you expect people to just listen when they get dragged into the mess _you_ made!”

Yeah, that about sums it up. But while he’d just love to listen to his brother go over all his flaws and then some, they don’t got time for that.

“Jeff, please.”

The response is enough to get his brother to shut up. Jeff expected him to turn mocking, not pleading. Because Aaron is a bastard, part of him takes petty pleasure in messing with his brother like that.

The exhaustion he speaks with is all real.

“You can lay into me later. Right now, you and Rio gotta move. I don’t know how much time you got left.” Not entirely true, he’s pretty sure Jeff got an hour left even at worst. The queen lost her edge along with her family. But Jeff still needs to move his ass. The sooner his brother gets here, the better.

While Aaron works on getting the blood off the couch, his brother does that special choked out yell only he can inspire, and there’s the faint sound of what Aaron is pretty sure is a fist slamming down the nearest flat surface. Then Jeff pulls himself together.

“Sixth Avenue you said?”

“Yeah, corner with Seventh Street,” Aaron says, turning the volume back up now that Jeff is no longer yelling. “Don’t forget to turn off any electronics, keep only your phone on." They need a line of communication till they meet up. "No smartwatches or stuff either, nothing that can be tracked. And put on real clothes, not your uniform.” If Jeff shows up like a cop, they’re gonna draw way too much attention. “Use hats and scarves, cover your faces." Good thing it’s cold enough for that to look normal.

The bathroom opens again. Aaron waits a beat, but when nothing comes flying out, he turns his head so he can see what he needs to from the corner of his vision.

Miles is—holding the door so it blocks his view of Gwen—leaning out, and the look his nephew is wearing says he got distracted from whatever brought him out by getting curious over who Aaron is calling. Aaron points at the bedroll and pillows he put aside. Hope that’s what Miles is looking for. Or rather, what Gwen is looking for.

The impressed look tells him he got it right. It’s a relief. Gwen really shouldn’t be sleeping on the floor.

Jeff is taking deep breaths. Trying to keep a lid on his temper. And succeeding pretty well.

“When we meet, you and me are gonna have a long talk, brother.”

Translation, Jeff is gonna rip him a new one.

“Looking forward to it,” he says like the little shit Jeff expects him to be. He waves off Miles when his nephew pauses his work to give him a questioning look. Gwen’s gotta be taken care of first, explanations can come later.

It's a relief when Miles listens.

“Now get moving,” he says while Miles disappears back into the bathroom.

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Jeff snaps, losing his temper again. Normal, given the taunting he just did. Aaron rubs his head and resists the urge to rile up his brother some more. Damn, but they're good at bringing out each other’s worst.

They used to bring out each other’s best.

“Make sure you're out of your home in thirty. I'll be there in an hour,” he says and hangs up before Jeff can launch into another lecture. The petty part of him takes satisfaction in the offense his brother is no doubt feeling.

Most of him is just done. This ain’t the first time he’s messed up by a long shot, but damn if it ain’t the worst one yet. And he’s got no one to blame but himself.

Jeff is right to call him out.

Taking off the headset, he rolls his neck and swings his arms to get rid of the tension, before getting back to work. He finishes getting the blood off the couch, cleans up the glass, decides the dishes can wait, goes to the closet and changes clothes, and arms himself with gun, knife and some home made gear. He was hoping Miles and Gwen would have wrapped up their talk by the time he finished, but he ain’t surprised when that’s not the case. Wish he could wait till they’re done but he’s gotta move. Aaron starts planning how to handle this before deciding to just wing it. He’s done playing his nephew. Done playing Gwen too.

He knocks on the bathroom door, making the voices inside fall silent. They were talking 'bout how Miles just needs to relax. Aaron pushes down the need to know more about that.

“Miles, you got a minute? Need to talk.”

“Can it wait?”

No it can’t. But Miles sounding his normal self does help him unwind some.

“I’m going out,” he says, stepping to the side and leaning against the wall. If Gwen sees him out of the suit, she's gonna be hurt all over again. Bad enough she's hearing his real voice. “Need to pick up your parents.”

Aaron ain’t surprised to hear Miles scramble for the door.

“Why are you picking up my parents?” Miles demands before the door is open in full. 

The angle Aaron is at means he sees nothing of Gwen. It makes him ache. 

There's blood on the floor.

“Gotta make sure they’re safe,” Aaron says, calm and steady. It won’t stop Miles from worrying of course, but it’ll keep him from freaking out.

As expected, Miles frowns, worried.

“Uncle Aaron... just how much danger are we in?”

Way too much.

Aaron is about to say it ain’t that bad when he realizes that would be yet another play on his nephew. Suppose he should be glad he caught it in time.

Aaron forces himself to lose the act, sighing deeply and rubbing his head like he's been wanting to do. Letting Miles see the truth.

“A lot.” Not good enough. Spell it out. “Your life’s at stake.” Damn, that hurts. Even more so cause of the way it makes Miles tense up, worry turning to real fear. “It’s why I need your parents here,” Aaron continues while changing posture. Keeping it serious but turning soothing too. “This place is safe.”

_Your home ain’t._

Miles gets the message loud and clear. Aaron steps closer—stay out of Gwen's sight—and takes hold of his nephew's shoulder like he's done a thousand times before. The effect on Miles is immediate, his nephew calming down.

He's still afraid.

“I’m gonna fix this, Miles,” he says, impossible not to with the fear his nephew is showing. But it ain’t a lie. Aaron is gonna make sure his family gets their life back no matter what. “But it’s gonna take some time,” he continues. “Until then, you and your parents stay here.” And what fun that is gonna be. He can all but hear the screaming matches between him and Jeff already.

Miles looks way too serious. Looks too much like Jeff.

“Okay.”

The agreement, simple and without blame, makes something deep inside him come apart. He hadn’t realized how much he needed that.

“Come on, need to show you what phone to use,” he says, and gestures at Miles to close the door when his nephew don’t do it on his own.

“Why can’t I use my own?” Miles asks, closing the door and following him.

“Same reason you needed to turn it off and take out the battery before coming here,” Aaron says. “Stuff can be tracked.”

Miles nods like he knew that all along.

“Yeah, of course, I knew that.”

No he didn’t. But he would have if Aaron had given him a couple of moments to think.

Aaron shows Miles the burner phone he can use. It’s got just one number programmed in, belonging to the burner phone Aaron is carrying himself. He shows Miles how to work the monitors too, explaining how the alarms work and switching between security cameras. Reveals the hidden exit this place has too. If someone shows up while he’s gone, he don’t want Miles and Gwen trapped.

“Call if _anything_ comes up, Miles. Don’t matter how small, you call. I’ll pick up this time,” he finishes with a smile. And then curses himself hard. Too soon, way too soon.

Miles grins and fires a joke back, not finding it too soon at all. Thank fuck.

Aaron glances at the bathroom before leaning down and taking hold of his nephew’s shoulder, serious.

“Look after Spider-Woman.” Almost said Gwen there. “She needs it. And if,” when, “she tries to leave, tell her you need her to stay and keep you safe.” Best way to keep Gwen from taking off. And yeah, he feels awful for doing this right after saying he was done playing her, but this is a risk he can't afford. If Gwen leaves now, there’s too big a chance of him not being able to find her before Vanessa figures out who she is. She can leave after he's told her all she needs to know, but not before. And he'll tell her after he's gotten his brother here. That's gotta come first.

He's glad Miles is old enough to trust with something like this. At the same time, despite knowing Miles will be safer here, he desperately wishes he could take his nephew with him. 

“I can take care of myself,” Miles says, confidence more real than not. “I’ve got powers now too, you know.” His nephew playfully punches his stomach to show just how tough he is. Aaron lifts his hands with surrender, his smile all real.

“I know.” Wait, does this count as treating Miles like a mark? It’s a lie, but he’s doing it cause it’s important for Miles to feel at ease while he’s gone. If Miles is freaking out, he’s gonna be making mistakes. And yeah, Miles is on his way to becoming a man, but right now he’s still a kid. You gotta treat them different cause they’re still learning all the facts.

He can't believe it only took one bad break to lose all skill at being able to tell when he's doing right or wrong by his nephew.

Aaron realizes he’s stayed silent for too long when Miles starts talking about Gwen—not Spider-Woman, Gwen—and how she’s not gonna take off, cause she said she’d teach him how to swing around the city. Aaron almost gets sucked into the tale, wanting so bad to hear it all. But he’s gotta get going.

“That’s great, man,” he says the moment he can. “But I gotta roll now. You tell me all about it after I'm back. And remember what to tell Gwen if she tries to leave.” Gwen telling Miles she’d show him how to swing don’t mean she’s gonna be staying around. It just means she’s gonna come back for him later.

Shit, shouldn't have called her Gwen. She made clear just how much she don't want that.

“Man, I told you, she's not gonna leave."

She is. Only question is when. Aaron hopes she’s gonna decide to catch some sleep first.

“Hope you’re right,” he says, and gets things back on track by asking Miles to list all the stuff he _ain’t_ gonna do while Aaron is gone. He’s glad when Miles gets all the important stuff right.

Miles finishes up with an exasperated look.

“You know I’m not a kid anymore, right?”

He knows Miles is still a kid for sure.

“Nothing wrong with being careful, man,” Aaron returns with a smile, and gives his nephew a hug. He feels himself unwind some when Miles hugs him back. “Be back in about an hour and half,” he says, and leaves before the need to tell Gwen to look after Miles can take over. She don’t need him to say that, Spider-Woman always looks out for people, and even more so for kids. 

When the door closes behind him, Aaron shines a light and gets rid of his tracks as he makes his way outside. He checks his face is covered by hood and scarf, and then he sets off for the nearest subway, pace brisk and posture at ease. Just a guy who’s got somewhere to be, nothing worth noting about that.

He keeps a hand on his phone. Gotta make sure he don’t miss it if Miles calls.

When he arrives at the meeting spot, Jeff jumps out even from a distance. It ain’t cause of his height, it’s cause Jeff is screaming he’s a cop just with how he’s standing. Subtle, brother, real subtle.

Aaron takes out his phone and, after pretending to be busy with it while doing a thorough check of the area, he calls Miles.

“I’m with your parents,” he says when Miles picks up. “Gonna pass you along. Don’t talk about what happened, we’ll do that after we get back.”

Once again, his nephew’s easy agreement is soothing as shit. Aaron moves to Jeff and Rio, angled so they can see enough of his face for it to matter. As he nears, it becomes even more clear Jeff is packing heat. And Aaron ain’t the only one who’s noticed. Shit, does his brother even know the meaning of not standing out? Rio ain’t doing well either, but damn, she’s nailing it compared to Jeff.

Jeff at least spots him before he's close enough to get in a clean shot.

“Hey, man,” Aaron says, and holds out the phone before his brother can rip him a new one. “It’s Miles.”

All thoughts of lecturing fly out of Jeff’s head, replaced by a desperate need to hear from his son. Jeff grabs the phone and leans down so Rio can hear too, the two of them holding on to each other and their voices blending together as they ask Miles if he's alright. Aaron might not be able to make out what Miles is saying, but the relief from Jeff and Rio tells him what answer they got. 

While Jeff and Rio talk to Miles, Aaron keeps a lookout. It’s hard to stay objective, the situation has him jumping at shadows. But while some people do stand out to him—guy at the corner, keeping an eye on Jeff and now on Aaron too. Girl pretending to be busy with her phone, on the lookout for something. Running cab that hasn’t moved since he got here—there’s no major flags. That’s something at least.

While Aaron stays out of the talk, there’s one moment where he’s gotta weigh in. When Miles says he’ll explain what happened after they get here. Aaron knows those are the exact words used cause Jeff repeats them with an accusing look at him. Rio ain’t happy either.

“Not a good place to talk, here,” he says in a way that won’t attract attention. Jeff scowls but don’t push. Rio lets it go too. Good.

After the call, they get moving, Aaron taking Jeff’s armed side so the hidden gun gets hidden for real. Jeff’s carrying two bags, while Rio’s got just the one. One for each of them and one for Miles. Aaron would offer to take one from Jeff, but that would get his brother all offended. Same for him telling Jeff to loosen up. He’s just gotta deal with his brother looking like he’s got a pole shoved deep up his ass. At least Rio is trying to hit casual. 

Aaron adjusts his walk so the tense as fuck couple he’s with reads a little more natural. He stays on the lookout for tails. For now, there are none.

At first, Aaron has hope they’ll be able to get through this without too much trouble. Sure, Jeff can't help but ask after the vague answers Miles gave, but Rio puts a stop to that fast, steering Jeff's need to talk to safer grounds. Then they get on the subway.

“You saved Miles?”

Aaron keeps track of the other passengers. There’s three. Two are talking to one another with no sign of paying the rest of them attention. The last one is busy with his phone and it looks real. 

All are far away enough to keep from overhearing as long as they keep their voices down. And Jeff was keeping his voice down. Still, really not the place to be having this talk.

“Later,” Aaron says. 

“Aaron,” Jeff says back. Not willing to drop this unless he gets something. And this time, Rio don't look like she's planning on stopping her man. Aaron resists the urge to scowl.

“I had help,” he says, not comfortable with using Miles to turn Jeff’s opinion to his advantage. Wouldn’t have been comfortable with that even before this before mess. Using it for something small, sure, but for something like this? No, that ain't right.

Jeff raises a brow, well aware this ain’t normal behaviour.

“Must’ve been some help if it’s got you sharing credit.”

Aaron rolls his eyes, more cause his brother expects it than anything else.

“I share credit. When it’s due.”

Jeff scoffs, but there’s a smile tugging at his lips. Only reason it’s there is cause of the lingering relief from talking to Miles.

The lie don’t hold up long. Having gotten something, Jeff tries to make small talk.

His brother is trying to reach out.

“So... how have you been?”

Bad. Real bad. Might have come to a head today, but it was building up long before. 

It started building when he found out about Gwen.

“Was doing just fine till today,” Aaron says like the lying bastard he is. He might be done playing those he loves, but that don’t mean he’s gonna turn honest for real. Couldn’t even if he wanted to. He’s been lying for so long it’s become second nature.

Jeff shakes his head, a little frustrated but more fond. It makes the conscience Aaron wishes he didn’t have shrivel up some more. The urge to squirm is real.

Aaron keeps looking casual instead, hands in his jacket, one leg stretched out, and lounging on the public seat like he owns it. A stark contrast to how Jeff is sitting, all wound up and ready to fight. Rio is still on edge too, but again, compared to Jeff, she's doing great.

“Could you at least try to loosen up, brother?” he asks before Jeff can make another way too sincere attempt at reaching out. 

As intended, Jeff does a full body bristle. It’s a relief. And it’s better for Jeff too. All the fuzzy feelings his brother has for him are gonna die a painful death when he learns what he did.

“And just what’s that supposed to mean?” Jeff asks like it’s a real question.

“It means you look like you’ve got a pole shoved up your ass,” Aaron says like he’s talking to a dumbass.

Rio speaks up before Jeff can, the too tight grip she has on Jeff’s hand betraying how close she is to snapping.

“And you look like—”

What follows is some Spanish that contains the words for pork and toilet, though Aaron needs a moment to translate the rest of what is no doubt a creative insult. 

Jeff don’t need a moment, and the look he gives Rio is hella impressed.

What comes out of his brother’s mouth is this.

“Baby, you know how I feel about cursing.”

“I know how you feel about swearing,” Rio returns without missing a beat, some of her tension fading as Jeff strokes his thumb over her hand.

And his brother, always ready to argue, concedes defeat with an easy tilt of his head. The effect Rio has on Jeff is damn impressive.

Jeff rubs the back of his neck and makes another attempt at reaching out, as always not knowing when to quit. With a lot of effort, Aaron goes for a polite shut down.

“Jeff, I get you’re trying to play nice, but this really ain’t the time. I’m too on edge to keep from snapping at you.”

Jeff startles, not having expected that even a little. No surprise there. Even when they were still good, Aaron had trouble admitting when his mood was making him lash out.

“You know, I should be the one saying that to you,” Jeff says and Aaron has to close his eyes. You’d think his brother would have gotten down some kind of tact by now, but no. Jeff will just flap out whatever’s running through his head, and he won’t realize he’s messed up until after the facts.

“I mean, you’re the one who—called us.”

Well would you look at that. Jeff's gotten a filter installed after all. Real miracle right there.

“At a very late hour I might add.”

And his brother has done such a good job at cleaning up his talk. No one who meets Officer Davis would ever guess he used to be one of the dumbass thugs he so despises now.

“So if anything—”

“Jeff, _mi amor_.”

Thank fuck for Rio. No way Aaron could have kept it together for much longer.

“What? Baby, you know I’m right.”

Yeah, but that don’t mean everyone wants to hear it, Jeff.

To Aaron’s relief, Rio keeps Jeff occupied for the rest of the way. Oh, it ain’t done for his benefit, she’s doing this for her and Jeff only. But that don’t mean he can’t appreciate the benefits. Those benefits include Jeff loosening up some. 

Jeff has as big an effect on Rio as she does on him. She relaxes for real as she listens to him talk.

Aaron keeps watch without it being obvious. To no surprise, he gets more on edge the longer he spots no tail.

His tension ramps up big time after they get off the subway and start nearing the safe house. If he’s wrong about not being followed, he’s about to lead Vanessa straight to Miles and Gwen. 

He ain’t wrong. He’s good at this, great even. Even off his game, he’s better at this shit than most will ever be. They ain’t being followed.

When the coast is clear, Aaron leads Jeff and Rio down the tunnels and shines a light.

There’s footsteps in the dirt, leading outside. One pair, sneakers, small size.

 _Miles_.

Running down the tunnel and ignoring his brother calling after him, Aaron uncovers the key pad and looks around while blindly typing in the password—no footprints other than Miles, no signs of struggle—before getting distracted by the code being refused. Too many wrong attempts, need to use the override. Aaron does just that and—there's hand prints on the door, small size, belonging to Miles again—despite knowing it’s a dumbass move, he calls out before the door opens in full.

“Miles?” 

No answer. No sight of him either. Aaron runs to the bathroom while looking around again—double check the blind spot made by the broken light—but the result is the same. Miles is gone.

When he gets to the bathroom, he finds Gwen gone too. _Fuck_.

Aaron realizes he’s punched the wall when pain shoots through his hand. It helps clear his head. Alright, think this through. There’s no sign of real struggle, and the only prints are from Miles. Most likely, Gwen left and Miles went out to find her.

Miles should have stayed put.

“Aaron!”

Aaron closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. Then he turns to face his brother.

“Miles is gone.”

And they gotta find him fast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Years!
> 
> This was so much fun to write. Aaron and Jeff play on each other so well. And just imagine how things will change now that Jeff and Rio are involved too...
> 
> But also, Jeff being a cop and having it be such a big part of his identity... yeah, felt awkward to write. So just imagine this is a universe where cops actually do their job and are good on the whole. 
> 
> Kudos and comments make my day! I'd love to hear if you think I got Jeff right :)


	6. The Past - Part 3

No means no. Aaron respects that. But also, that was one hell of a night. 

He starts going by the bar more often. Normally he drops by maybe once a month. Now he shows his face every week. Always on the same day they last met, and around the same time too. The odds of Gwen showing up again are slim, don’t take a genius to see she’s got walls. But it’s still worth a shot.

If she don't show, it’ll take about a month for him to quit. Yeah, she was a great fuck, but others are too and he’s got no interest in going after a woman not into it. 

A rush goes through him when, on the third week, Gwen shows.

She’s here for him. And she’s not sure if that’s a mistake or not. The way she goes tense and the conflicted look she gets when spotting him make that clear. Aaron ambles over, takes a seat and hides just how thrilled he is to see her again. Can't come on too strong.

“Hey.”

“Hey,” Gwen returns, awkward. She fiddles with her drink, on the verge of bolting. No means no, but her being here means at least part of her is considering a yes.

Small talk won’t put her at ease. It’ll just make her run.

“So that was a great fuck,” he says. Satisfaction rises when Gwen chuckles. She gives him a smile, some of her tension fading.

“It was.”

Aaron waits a moment to see if she’ll say more. When it becomes clear she won’t, he goes in for the kill.

“Want to do it again?”

Gwen grins. Yeah, taking another shot at this was a good idea.

They go to the same hotel. Gwen proves the first time were no fluke, damn, was it no fluke. He didn’t know people could bend like that. If this don’t work out, he’s going after another ballet type next. 

But first.

“How about we swap digits?”

He asks the question after they’ve both gotten cleaned up. This time he went first. Had a feeling she was gonna take off while he was in the bathroom otherwise. 

He was right. She got ready to leave after it was her turn. Took some fast acting to get her to stay. He convinced her he weren't looking for anything more than after cuddles, same as last time. Wasn’t a lie, a repeat of the whole package is all he’s looking for. He’s just looking for it on the regular. 

Gwen goes tense. Not surprising. Same for her pulling out of his embrace and giving him a closed off look. Aaron places the arm she just freed up behind his head, relaxed and at ease. Gotta thread careful here. 

“I don’t do relationships,” she says.

“Me either,” he says, resisting the urge to reach out and trace one of the marks he left on her shoulder. Would make her run for sure. “Do fuck buddies though.”

“Not the buddy type either.”

The part of him always on the lookout for openings to exploit tucks away all she’s revealing here. Most of his attention is on making sure his body keeps saying it’s fine if she takes off. It ain’t a lie, this has got to come from both sides. But acting like this also raises the odds of him getting what he wants. Well, that's what his instincts are saying. Don't know her well enough to make a real judgement call. Yet.

“Booty call then,” he says. Gwen rolls her eyes and sits up completely, pulling most of the blanket with her. She draws up her knee and hooks her arms around it. It reads like a show of agitation instead of a defensive position. 

Aaron lifts a knee of his own and gets more comfortable with the blanket he still has, mirroring her pose but not her attitude. He also admires the bruises he left on her neck. If he wants this to work, he’s gotta stay physical. Not that he’s complaining about that.

She looks good wearing his colors.

“Ever heard of the phrase, no means no?” 

The demand is biting. Aaron lets his humor show. Now ain’t that ironic?

“I have,” he says. Then he sighs and gives Gwen an indulging look. “Look, Gwen, you’re a nice girl, but I’m here for one thing only. If you want more, this ain’t gonna work.”

Gwen scoffs, but there’s some humor too. Amused at the callback to their first talk. He picked the right approach.

“You’re the one asking for my number.”

“You’re a great fuck,” he says with real appreciation. “Would be damn nice to keep hooking up.”

Gwen lays her chin on her knee and piercing eyes look him over Trying to figure out if he’s playing her or not. He is, but not in the way she’s thinking. All he said was real. Just tailored to get the result he wants.

Gwen comes to a decision. Aaron keeps himself from growing tense.

“No personal questions,” she says firmly and Aaron almost don’t respond in time, knows he can’t show real victory but he’s gotta give her something or this will turn south fast. 

He smiles, letting casual pleasure show and nothing else. 

Gwen gives a wry smile back. She’s onto him. His mind is already jumping to damage control when she speaks again.

“No casual texting,” she says and it makes him catch up to what’s happening for real. She’s onto him. But she’s still willing to play. 

He got what he wanted. After a brief consideration, Aaron decides to hell with it. He drops the mask and lets Gwen see the high he’s running on. The way her smile grows tells him he made the right call.

Her voice lets him know she’s still ready to blow off this whole thing if he oversteps.

“No telling me about your life. I’m not interested in getting to know you.”

Sounds perfect.

“No hard feelings if one of us ain’t in the mood,” he says. Both cause laying down ground rules of his own will put her more at ease and cause he don’t want her coming into this with the wrong idea. “No going exclusive.”

“No hissy fit if one of us can’t make it,” Gwen says, relaxing some more. “After we already agreed to meet up I mean.”

“No clinging after this is over,” he says. “Don’t matter when it happens, when one of us stops feeling it, we go our separate ways.”

“When, not if?” Gwen returns, amused. Aaron shrugs.

“I’m not a long term guy.” His longest lasted what, a year? And that was an unusual case. Most of the time the spark fades after a couple months, half a year at most. Either he grows bored, or they start wanting more than he’s willing to give.

Gwen smiles.

“Good.”

Aaron waits a moment to see if she’s got more to share. When it becomes clear she’s finished, he gets down to business.

“So what’s your number?”

They swap digits. Aaron just uses her name in his contacts, but Gwen gives him the moniker of Boy Toy. 

“Unless that offends you, of course,” she says with mock consideration. If he makes a big deal out of this, she’ll either try to push his buttons some more, or her walls are gonna come back up. Or both. Good thing he don’t mind the name then.

“Been called worse.” And he don't care then either. The kid he used to be did, but Aaron hasn’t been that boy in a long time. 

Mission accomplished, he puts away his phone and rolls towards Gwen. Trailing a hand up her calf, he puts on the bedroom eyes.

“How about we celebrate?” 

“You sure you’re up for that?” she challenges while putting her own phone aside, hooded eyes meeting his own. She lifts a foot, held pointed like the dancer she is, and trails it up his arm. Makes some heat run though him, but she’s right, he’s not up for a real second round. Not a teen anymore. 

“Probably not,” he says. His frank admission makes Gwen chuckle, startled. Aaron don’t hide his satisfaction. Messing with people’s expectations will never get old.

He trails his lips over her leg.

“Can still get you off though.” And have a lot of fun while doing so. 

“Sounds unfair to you,” she says, and while she’s still amused, there’s some caution too. Wondering if he's lying 'bout what he wants after all.

He ain't lying.

“Let me bruise your thighs some more and I’ll consider it even.” For real. Leaving marks while in the heat of the moment is great, but it don’t allow him to put his all in it. 

Gwen snorts.

“Hickey kink much?”

She didn't assume this was a violence thing. Nice.

“You’ve got no idea.” Ain’t nothing like leaving his colors on a lover. The better the lover, the bigger the need. 

The need to paint Gwen with his colors is damn strong. Even more cause she don't mind bruises in visible places.

“That bother you?” he asks in a low voice, fingers caressing the curve of her ass. As expected, Gwen’s eyes darken some more. Sensation wise for sure, she's into being marked. It’s one of the reasons he was so keen on turning this into a regular thing.

Gwen pulls off the blanket and lets her knee fall down the bed, leaving her spread wide open. Damn, she looks fine with thighs bruised. Only thing that could make it better is if her pussy were bare too.

“Depends on how good you are with your mouth.”

Aaron smiles. Challenge accepted.

He gets work, picking the left thigh. The base he made earlier is good, but it was created without thought. Now he’s connecting the colors. A trail of pink and red, broken by bursts of near purple. Light sucks followed by hard ones, details added with tongue and teeth. 

It’s been years since he last threw art on the walls. Don’t feel right without his brother there. Even with Miles now getting into the scene, Aaron can’t lose himself in the colors as he could before. Can get lost in his nephew’s work, but not in his own. The need to paint never left though.

Figuring out he could paint lovers instead was one of the best things to happen to him. It ain't the same in full of course. Here, the canvas is warm and alive. Moving beneath his touch, responding to it. Gasping and moaning in time with his strokes.

When painting lovers, there’s no need to put on a tune. They make a music all of its own. Well, some do. Others don’t without a lot of effort on his part.

Gwen needs no help to feel it. She lets out all the right sounds, following the beat he's laying down. She moves with him like they’ve been doing this for ages. Aaron loses himself in the rhythm, the world fading away. There’s only the colors, dancing with the music and brought to life by his touch.

When he’s done, he pulls back so he can savor his work. He went the abstract route, trying to capture the feeling of passion. 

He did a damn fine job at it. The pink deepening into red, the splashes of near purple. The dark heart in the center he spent ages getting just right. It streaks through the rest of the image, trying to break free and chaining it together all at once. 

He remembers his art is plastered on a person when it gets moved. Gwen lifting her leg.

Gwen is fingering herself. Was? Her hand is down her panties but it don’t look busy. Part of Aaron is embarrassed, he did say he was gonna get her off. 

Most of him is enjoying the way she’s admiring his art. Her eyes follow the pattern he laid out, tracing the colors and lingering on the places where he made them clash. Was a real challenge to get it right. You’d think her white ass would bruise well, but no. Had to work hard to get the right colors to appear.

“This is beautiful,” she says, a little surprised.

Mostly there’s admiration and the languid relaxation that comes from being turned on, slow burn style. Aaron strokes the back of her leg, drawing her attention.

“Ain't it just?” he murmurs, still riding the high that comes from getting a piece just right. The undercurrent of heat, born from having Gwen admire his work while turned on by the making of it, only makes it that much sweeter.

He gives her a smile that's all real.

“Does this count as being good with my mouth?"

Gwen gets a smile of her own, ready to play. She likes it when her dares get met.

“You didn’t get me off, though,” she murmurs, placing her painted leg on his shoulder and tracing his back with the sole of her foot. Aaron nuzzles her knee and gives her a hooded look.

“Night ain’t over yet.” And he’s more determined than ever to make it worth her while. The bending is great, but having a lover who, on the first try, hits all his sweet spots art wise? Ain’t nothing that can top that.

He’s looking forward to morning arriving. His piece is gonna look even better after the colors have gotten a chance to set in.

Turns out, he was getting ahead of himself. When he wakes, Gwen is gone again.


	7. The Present - Part 4

“What do you mean, Miles is gone?”

“I mean he ain’t here,” Aaron snaps while moving to the monitors. Gotta check the security footage.

Jeff is about to interrogate him some more but gets distracted by Rio arriving, carrying all three bags. Jeff takes them from her like it's important he do so. Great priorities as always, brother.

“Close the door,” Aaron says, calling up the files he needs. “Red button on the left,” he adds, realizing they don’t know his system.

Rio closes the door while Jeff tells her Miles is gone, and then his brother puts down the bags and marches over in full cop mode. Great.

“Save the lecture for later—”

“No, Aaron,” his brother interrupts with a hard gesture, no patience left. “You look me in the eye and you explain what’s going on right now.”

Aaron closes his eyes and brings up his hands to breathe into as he fights the urge to just keep going. It ain’t a waste of time to explain, it’s necessary as fuck. Jeff is gonna keep getting in his way otherwise. So, how to get the story across fast?

Aaron turns around and looks his brother in the eye.

“I’m the Prowler.”

He gives Jeff half a beat to process that before continuing.

“Yeah, that Prowler, but that ain’t important here.”

“How is that not important?” Jeff demands, one hand flailing around and the other reaching for Rio as she comes stand next to him, wide eyed too.

“Point is,” Aaron continues like Jeff didn’t speak. “I was doing a job, when Miles showed up out of nowhere, and I betrayed the most dangerous crime boss in the city to get him out.” Is he twisting facts? Oh yeah. Does he care? Hell no. He needs Jeff to get his head in the game so they can find Miles. “My boss ain't someone to cross if you wanna keep breathing. That’s why you needed to run, and it's why we gotta find Miles and we gotta do it now!”

Shit, he’s losing it. Aaron closes his eyes and rolls his neck, trying to release enough tension so he can keep it together.

His brother ruins all chance of that.

“Fucking hell, Aaron!”

And here Aaron thought Jeff had given up on swearing. 

The thought falls flat. Comes from Jeff letting loose in full.

“What the fuck were you thinking?”

He were thinking of how to keep his damn family alive.

“I knew you were selfish but this is a new low even for you, brother.”

Tell him something he don’t know.

“Shit, do you even care ‘bout what you’re doing to us? Doing to Miles?”

Oh fuck no!

“Yeah, I fucking do! A hell of a lot more than you, cause I'm actually trying to find him!”

Jeff starts yelling back and Aaron's got just enough clarity left to realize they're about to spiral bad, so he grabs the nearest thing he can afford to break—the desk chair—and throws it at the wall as hard he can. 

The violence makes his brother shut up and pull Rio behind him, the response more caution than fear. But the fear is real. Part of Aaron feels awful for doing this, for making his brother believe even for a moment he'd hurt him, but it's the only thing he could come up with to keep things from escalating. And the fact this was the only thing springing to mind shows just what a mess he is too. He ain't capable of diffusing Jeff the usual way, and Jeff ain't capable of holding it in. Miles being gone will do that.

Aaron takes a deep breath and gets it together.

“I know this is a lot to take in, Jeff,” he says in voice that, while still way on edge, ain't the yelling from before. He's also got his hands raised to show he's not gonna be throwing any more stuff. “And I know I messed up, believe me, I know.” Even after he gets rid of Vanessa, his life ain’t ever gonna be the same. “But right now, we gotta focus on Miles.” All else can wait. “So go yell at a wall, or go punch something, whatever works. Get it out of your system, and then get back here when you’re ready to help.”

“ _Mira que cojones tienes_.”

Ah hell. Almost forgot about Rio. Jeff did to, cause he startles and habitually reaches for her when she steps out from behind him. 

Rio pushes his arm away and glares at them both before launching into a rant part English, part Spanish, and full on mad. It’s official, she’s lost it too. And Jeff seems fully prepared to let her keep going. Aaron would be fine with that if the yelling weren’t mostly aimed at him.

He opens a drawer and grabs noise cancelling headphones. It earns him a curse, but there's no move to come closer and turn it physical. Yet.

“Don’t you dare ignore me, _maldito saramabiche!_ ”

Aaron lifts his hands with surrender.

“Not ignoring you, Rio.” Not yet that is. “All you said were true. And you can keep yelling at me _after_ we find Miles.”

That last is enough to get Rio to shut up. Aaron gives her and Jeff a grim look.

“Wasn’t kidding about getting it out of your system. Do what you need to calm down, and then come help me find you son.”

“And just what are you gonna be doing?” Jeff demands, but it's more controlled than not. Good.

“Gonna go over the security footage,” he says, careful to keep from setting off his brother again. “Need to figure out where Miles went.”

Rio scowls and crosses her arms. Can’t things go smooth even once?

“You can’t just, oh I don’t know. Call him?”

He can’t. Takes a moment to figure out how he knows that though. 

Aaron points at the couch and the phone lying on it. One of the many things he picked up on while checking for Miles.

“Phone I gave him is still here.”

But Miles could have turned on his own. Aaron grabs his phone, ignoring Jeff when he demands to know who he's calling. Should be obvious, brother.

The call goes straight to voicemail. Damn it.

“His real phone’s still turned off,” he says, frustrated. If Miles were gonna break the rules anyway, why not that one too?

Rio curses again and one of her hands reaches for Jeff. Jeff takes hold of it while letting out a frustrated sound, his other hand rubbing the back of neck. 

Aaron lifts the headphones.

“Can’t hear you with these on. Go talk it out and let me know when you’re done.”

With that, he turns his back to them, plugs in the headphones and gets to work. Jeff and Rio can go fuck it out for all he cares, he’s got more important shit to worry about.

He pulls up the last footage of the entrance, rewinds fast and pauses when Miles appears. Miles looks more determined than freaked. Aaron checks the time stamp. Twenty-two minutes ago. Fuck, that’s way too long. Miles could be anywhere by now.

No, that ain’t true. Miles will be looking for Gwen. And he’ll have no idea where to start. He could still be near.

He could be checking Spider-Woman’s most frequent haunts instead. With any luck, he’s heading deeper into Queens. Would be a hella lot better than running back to Brooklyn, the Black Queen’s home turf.

He could be doing none of those things, cause Aaron ain’t got real proof ‘bout what happened. And he needs that proof. Gwen taught him that.

Alright, figure out if he’s right about what happened first, and if he is, take five to go over the footage in full. Both cause there could be valuable info on it and cause it's a good way to calm down. He needs a clear head for this.

Calling up the footage from inside the safe house in another window, including the bathroom footage, Aaron confirms Gwen is gone for real. Then he rewinds and watches his nephew as he makes his way out the tunnel in reverse. 

He pauses when Miles is in front of the closed entrance and the audio picks up on a voice. Miles talking while looking at the camera. Nice to see he was paying attention when Aaron showed him how to work the monitors. Would have been even nicer if he’d paid the same attention to the need to call.

Aaron rewinds some more until he’s at the start of the message.

“Okay, so Gw—Spider-Woman left. Like you said she would. Man, I’m such an idiot.”

That last is soft and aimed at himself. Miles looks down and shoves his hands in his jacket, ashamed and kicking himself hard. Part of Aaron wants to comfort him but most of him wishes Miles would hurry up and give him something useful.

Miles takes a deep breath and looks up at the camera. 

“I, ah. Forgot my phone inside.”

And why ain’t he going back for it?

The realization hits like a ton of bricks, wiping out the next part of his nephew’s message. Miles didn’t go back inside cause he couldn’t. Cause Aaron, the stupid fuck, forgot to give him the damn password!

He realizes he’s slammed a fist down the desk when pain shoots through his hand but fucking hell, this is such a basic, dumbass mistake and he can’t believe he forgot to give Miles the fucking entry code!

What else did he forget to do?

He pauses the footage and rubs his head, wishing so hard he could go punch something, or at least have some chore to keep his hands occupied. But he can’t leave the desk without taking off his headphones, and the outburst would make Jeff interrogate him for sure. That would make him lose it even worse.

Cause he ain’t got another choice, Aaron does a series of stretches. Makes him look ridiculous but right now he couldn’t care less. He needs to relax if he wants to stay useful. It’ll also tell his brother the punch weren’t caused by something time sensitive.

After releasing as much tension as he can, he rewinds to the last part he caught and listens to the rest of the message. 

The relief that hits when Miles says he’s planning on coming back is unreal. Miles is taking half an hour to find Gwen, but after that, he’s coming back. So, seven more minutes till Miles calls it quits, ten more before they need to start worrying if he ain’t shown yet, and fifteen before they need to go out and look for him.

The time frame means Miles can’t be that far away. But going out in the hope of finding him is still an act of desperation. The odds of crossing paths ain’t in their favour. Better to stay and get all the info he can. If something does go wrong, a solid starting point for the search would be damn useful. And yeah, Aaron was hoping Miles would mention where he’s going, but his nephew said nothing of the sort. Normal, seeing as Miles don’t know where to start looking himself.

After rolling his neck and swinging his arms, tension already building up again, Aaron calls up the footage from right after he left. To no surprise, it shows Miles going back to the bathroom. Aaron switches to the camera there.

He has to grip the desk when he sees Gwen, realising way too late what the sight would do to him. She’s seated on the bedroll, back up against a pillow covered wall, and she’s put on hoodie and sweatpants. Most of her is covered by blanket, pulled up to her shoulders and hiding all but her right arm and left leg. Her leg is held up by pillows, and Aaron is pretty sure there’s a homemade splint beneath the pants. She’s disinfected the cuts on her face. She’s washed off all the dirt.

She still looks like a broken mess. Why the hell ain’t she healing? Those bruises should be fading by now.

Aaron manages to pull it together when his nephew speaks.

“Okay, so we’re alone for the next hour and half,” Miles says, at ease and oblivious to the fact he just gave Gwen a window to plan in her escape. “Want to come out?”

“And leave behind all this comfort?” Gwen asks while gesturing at the nest she made. Hearing her talk makes it even harder to keep it together. She sounds tired. She sounds like she always does when firing off a joke.

She sounds hurt. 

“I mean, the other room has a real bed," Miles tries to bribe in a smooth way. Nails it pretty well too. "Has a punching bag too."

Gwen’s lips quirk in a real smile. It drives in the knife some more.

Gwen likes Miles.

Aaron speeds up the footage. The whole point of doing this is to calm down, not lose it all over again. And the next forty minutes ain’t that important, Gwen was still here when he called.

He ain’t surprised when Gwen lets herself be convinced to move. It’s another sign of her already having made up her mind to leave.

He is surprised, and exasperated as hell, when Miles shows her the hidden exit. Now Gwen’s got two ways to leave. Great job, nephew.

He didn't tell Miles he couldn't do this. Got no one to blame but himself. Again.

Aaron lowers the volume when Miles puts on a tune, the amped up speed turning the music grating. Wouldn’t be bothered by it any other time, but right now even the smallest thing is too much. 

He plays the footage in real time and turns up the volume again when Miles goes crawling up a wall. Believing is one thing, seeing his nephew with superpowers is another. Then he realizes Jeff and Rio are probably watching this and he almost closes the footage on instinct. But hell, they need to know about this too, and if it makes them freak out again, better to have it happen without him getting dragged in.

Gwen, seated on the bed, is telling Miles what to feel for and encouraging him to keep going. When Miles reaches the ceiling and crawls over it like the super he's turned into, his nephew whoops with joy.

It turns into a yell when he somehow stops sticking, Aaron tensing as Miles falls down back first and he’s gotta remind himself hard that his nephew is fine. Miles had no trouble moving when running outside. 

Miles hits the floor and Gwen laughs. It makes him relax for real. She wouldn’t do that if she weren’t sure Miles ain’t hurt even a little. Which, of course he ain’t. Spider-Woman shakes off blows that would kill normal people like they’re nothing but a tap to the cheek. Part of Aaron is relieved Miles is just as hard to kill now. Another part fears what kind of stunts his nephew is gonna pull now that he’s all but invincible. 

"See, you just need to relax," Gwen says with a grin that shows off the gap in her front teeth. The sight is more comforting than painful, but damn if it don't hurt still.

He's missed her.

After Miles gets to his feet like he didn’t just take a direct hit to the spine, Aaron speeds up the footage again. Would watch it all if he could, but one, don't got time, and two, wouldn't be fair to Gwen.

There’s more wall crawling, but Aaron only slows down when Miles takes a seat next to Gwen and she shows off her web shooters. He’s always wondered how those work. And yeah, part of him feels guilty as hell for watching something Gwen really wouldn’t want him to see, but he seriously needs to calm down. And as long as he keeps it short, watching Gwen and Miles have fun is soothing. 

Gwen don't look so hurt anymore. Still a broken mess, but her smile is real. 

He don't learn much about her gear, just that you gotta tap to shoot and double tap to release. Part of him is disappointed she don’t talk about the mechanics. 

Most of him feels real humor at the target practice Miles does after spreading pillows all over the room. Following Gwen's instructions, Miles shoots webs at the targets and then yanks them over. 

His nephew hits himself with the pillows a couple of times. Not for the first time, Aaron wonders just how Gwen's psychic reflexes get triggered. Spider-Woman dodges anything he throws at her no matter how soft.

Gwen was caught off guard for real whenever he hit her with a pillow.

He speeds up the footage until Miles takes his call. Gwen watches Miles talk with the closed off expression that means she’s thinking hard. Aaron ain’t surprised when, after the call ends, she fakes a yawn. When it draws an answering yawn from Miles, she starts coaxing him into taking a nap. And after Miles shows a shred of smarts by asking if she’s planning on leaving, she lies with a smile. 

Miles don’t pick up on the lie. No surprise there either. Can’t keep up a secret identity as long as Gwen has without some serious skill at talking bull. And yeah, Aaron would have noticed the signs, but Miles don’t got his skill at reading people. Don’t got any experience with Gwen’s tells either.

He’s still exasperated when Miles gets comfortable on the couch. He gets this has been a long ass day for Miles, but this is one of those things his nephew _weren’t_ supposed to do while he was gone.

He speeds up until Gwen gets off the bed. She writes down a message, webs it to the main exit, and then moves to the hidden one, light on her feet even with her injuries. 

Her limp is less severe than before. Don’t know how much of that is her healing and how much is thanks to the splint and painkillers though.

Gwen crouches down, splinted leg stretched out so it don't hold any weight, and, in time with the music, she opens the hatch. After carefully dropping down, she closes the hatch, once again using the beat to mask the noise.

Miles stays fast asleep. Aaron rubs his head and speeds up to when his nephew wakes.

Miles wakes when the playlist comes to an end, twenty-one minutes later. Gwen is long gone.

Miles is drowsy right until he realizes he’s alone. Then he panics. After checking the bathroom, his nephew throws the covers off the bed like Gwen could be hiding there. Checks all the closets too. Not a bad first instinct really, but Miles will need to put in a lot of work before it can count as real smarts. See, him missing the note webbed to the door.

His nephew's second instinct should have been to call, but instead Miles, after finally noticing and reading the message, stuffs the paper in his pocket and opens the door, slipping outside as fast he can. Which is fast alright. Stress fires up his powers.

Miles is still looking around when the door closes behind him. For once, Aaron curses the system he's put so much work in. It makes sense for the door to close on its own when leaving, but hell if it don’t feel like a dumbass move right now.

Miles ignores the closing at first. Then he stiffens and spins around with a look that says he’s just realized he don’t know the entry code. Aaron pushes down the need to beat himself some more and speeds up the footage. It shows Miles trying out different codes until the keypad locks him out. After a vain attempt to push open the door with his bare hands, Miles delivers his message. Aaron closes all footage, puts on a song so the sound of his own heartbeat don’t drive him crazy, and does another round of stretches as he takes it all in.

Aside from the confirmation that Miles and Gwen weren’t attacked, there was no useful info. But it did help clear his head, something he damn well needed.

It also showed this new mess is caused by none other than himself. Still can’t believe he forgot to give Miles the entry code. He’s got no room to talk crap about his nephew’s instincts when his own are causing so much trouble. Playing it close to the chest might have worked before, but he’s paying the price now.

There’s fourteen minutes left before Miles should be back at the latest. Enough time to talk things out with Jeff and Rio. If they’ve calmed down too that is.

Aaron turns off the music, takes off the headphones and turns around. 

Jeff and Rio are watching him with crossed arms and grim looks, every inch the parental unit. He appreciates them waiting for him to pull it together.

“You calm now?” Jeff asks, voice tight but level.

“Yeah,” he says, leaning back against the desk and crossing his arms too. Unlike Jeff and Rio, he keeps his posture tired, not wired. “You?”

The lack of challenge makes Jeff loosen up some.

“We talked it out,” his brother says.

“And now we want to know,” Rio says, less wound up than his brother but no less determined. “Why is our son crawling up the walls?”

Aaron sighs, more to keep things calm than anything else.

“Cause yesterday he got bit by a spider, and it weren’t a normal one.”

He waits for Jeff to demand more details instead of just rattling off all his brother wants known. Jeff has an easier time keeping calm when he feels in control of the conversation. 

None of his brother’s questions come as a surprise. How, why, where? When were he planning on telling them this?

“Was planning on having Miles tell you himself,” Aaron says, calm and without annoyance. Takes some effort to get right that last. Jeff’s and Rio’s reaction to finding out Miles got bitten while out with him weren’t pretty. But they kept it together. Aaron can do the same.

His brother scowls with reluctant agreement. Aaron glances at the time and get things on track.

“Miles left behind a message.”

As expected, that gets their full attention.

“He said he was gonna come back here after half an hour,” he continues. “We got ten minutes left before we need to start worrying.”

“Why are you only saying this now?” Jeff demands. Aaron don’t say it’s cause they gave him no chance to do so before.

Rio says it instead, for once more annoyed with herself than with him. And cause she's the one saying it and not him, Jeff has the same response. Good. Means they can actually work out a plan for what to do if Miles don’t show.

The plan they settle on is simple. Rio will stay behind, while he and Jeff will go out and look for Miles. They divide up the area, and Aaron grabs burner phones for Jeff and Rio both. Shows Rio how to use the monitors too. And gives her a taser, set to non-lethal, when his brother starts saying he don’t want her unarmed. 

This time Aaron don’t make the mistake of not sharing the entry code. He also eats and drinks some. He ain’t screwing up the basics again.

They finish up with two minutes to spare. Tension is rising fast. 

Jeff decides it would be a good idea to try to break it by asking about Gwen. Or rather, Spider-Woman. Not like it was hard to figure out who she was.

Aaron shuts down that line of questioning fast. Ignoring what it would do to him, this ain’t his story to tell. All they gotta know is that Spider-Woman saved Miles more than he did.

The only reason his refusal don’t turn into another argument is cause they’re all working to keep things civil. 

They're all worried for Miles.

The last minute goes in. Even Jeff, who deals with stress through talk, don’t speak again. They just watch the monitor showing the entrance and count down the seconds. 

The seconds take a long ass time to pass.

When the deadline passes without Miles appearing, he and Jeff move out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so, the cliffhanger continues... But no worries, the next present chapter it gets resolved for real. And that's also when the plot kicks off for real... *insert evil laughter*  
> (Seriously, am so excited for the next plot chapter. We're kicking things into overdrive then! But first, we get some more Aaron and Gwen fluff. Well, I say fluff, but it's more like: Aaron Is A Bastard But We Love Him Anyway)
> 
> As for the Spanish Rio says, that's all thanks to the wonderful lluviadinoche and living-lovino-loca over on tumblr! They helped me not make a fool of myself by lending their native knowledge of the language xD


	8. The Past - Part 4

Aaron takes care not to let his job bleed into his private life. But there’s a difference between getting paranoid and being a dumbass. Fact is he’s got enemies. If he’s gonna be seeing Gwen on the regular, he’s gotta make sure she ain't one of them. So he does some digging.

Gwendolyn Maxine Stacy. Daughter to George Stacy, Captain with the PDNY. Just turned twenty-five. Lost her mother, Helen Carmichael, twenty years ago. Got a degree in teaching but makes her living as a ballet dancer. Lives on her own in Queens.

It’s amazing what you can find out with a phone number and the right kind of contacts.

Her socials are normal, if bare. Connected to enough people for it to be real, and filled with enough silence to show she weren’t kidding about the no buddy thing. 

More importantly, when he tracks her phone, he finds she turns it off on the regular. Now that’s a warning sign. People don’t go off the grid like that unless they’ve got something to hide. 

Aaron compares her black-outs with Spider-Woman’s appearance. He don’t believe she’s Spider-Woman for real, the odds of bumping into the woman out of the mask like this are way low. But better safe than sorry.

Gwen goes off the grid more often than Spider-Woman appears, and her phone is still active a fair amount when the neighborhood spider is seen. Can be argued that’s no real proof, Gwen’s phone never budges while Spider-Woman is slinging around town, but it’s good enough for him.

Next up, a stake-out. Would have done this no matter what, but the black-outs do raise his guard a little. Here Gwen is, a puzzle big enough to catch his interest, and a ride hot enough to keep it. The careful act it took just to get her number only makes the whole thing more suspicious. Don’t take a genius to figure out he loves a good chase. Add to that the sweet rhythm they fell into while painting, and he can’t help but think. If he had to get a plant past his defenses? Gwen is how he’d go about it.

'Course, the irony is her going off grid counts more as a sign in her favor than a strike against her. If she’s meant to get close to him, a red flag like this ain’t smart. On the other hand, never underestimate how stupid people can get.

His stake-out consists of three parts. One, follow her around town as she goes about her business. The tracking helps there, letting him approach her in different locations. Lessens the odds of her noticing she’s got a tail. He don’t follow her all the time of course, or even most of it. Got other stuff to do. But over the next weeks, he pops into her schedule when he can, wearing street clothes not his style and using hats and scarves to hide his looks. He’s lucky it’s winter. Easiest time of the year to do this.

The tailing raises no new flags. She goes to work, she shops for groceries, she hops into bars for drinks and companionship.

She likes to walk around the city. Likes to dance when she thinks no one will see. And she always turns off her phone when she does. Turns it off at other times too, but that’s the only real pattern he can spot.

Part two of the stake-out involves a break-in. It’s an easy one, requiring no more than two days of recon, and half of that is just him being thorough. While she’s away at work, he goes to her apartment dressed as a maintenance guy from a company known to the building. His face is hidden with a hat and a mask that says he’s gonna be encountering fumes. Picked a time when most people would be out, but he keeps those still around from paying attention to him by acting like he’s on a routine job. Body language is key when trespassing like this.

He picks the lock and enters her apartment.

She’s got a nice place. Good taste in decorations.

After checking for hidden alarms and cameras, he examines her place for real. The apartment is a one bedroom a little smaller than his, and it has the same bachelor vibe going on. Yeah, the place is kept clean, but there’s some junk food scattered around, and random crap is spread out in a way that means no one is around to complain about it.

Gwen’s love for music is shown in both band posters and sound system. The speakers don’t reach his level but they're quality still. She's got an electric drum set too, given a place of honor despite the little room she's got. Her love for dancing is easy to spot as well, ballet pics mixed in with the posters. 

Aaron does a casual search, opening drawers and cabinets, and checking the most common hiding spots for crap people don’t want known. He don’t dig deeper though. This is a precaution, not a job. Unless he encounters real warning signs, he’s not gonna treat her like a mark.

There’s no real warning signs. He finds stuff of course but there’s nothing to set off alarms. There’s also enough to satisfy his instincts. A lack of secrets would be damning too. 

He don’t figure out how she learned to fight. Might have if he dug deeper, but while part of him is tempted to do just that, most of him is looking forward to getting the answer in person. Aaron leaves her place with the same skill he entered with.

Part three of the stake-out involves watching her at work. How people act on the job says a lot about them. This part requires more care than following her around town, he’s not just another face in the crowd here. Even with a disguise and good use of mobile tracking, the risk of getting made is real. 

It’s fun. Been awhile since he last did something like this. And unlike when working, the stakes are low. If he gets made, he’ll lose a lover but not his life.

He's careful to keep Gwen from spotting him, only observing her as he passes by whatever room she’s in. It's enough to see she’s familiar with this place and its people but no more.

Her fellow dancers are another matter. Whenever Gwen vacates a room, Aaron hangs around the people left behind. Best odds of overhearing talk about her.

Turns out, the other dancers don’t like Gwen. Not all of course, but enough for it to mean something. Don’t take long to figure out the cause. Gwen’s got a habit of missing rehearsals, and even the occasional show, but she’s so good at what she does her position remains secure. And her position is that of soloist. If she were lower on the ladder, the jealousy wouldn't be so bad.

The resentment ain’t helped by Gwen’s refusal to allow her co-workers close. She’s not mean, just distant. But combine that with the other things, and even those that admire her skill take issue with her behavior. Well, most do. She's got some people in her corner. But yeah, networking ain't Gwen's thing.

Aaron ends the stake-out by watching a closed rehearsal. He don't need to do this, got what he needed already. But he's curious to see Gwen in her element.

It's a good thing he indulged himself. When he saw her dance before, she were either being casual, more focused on having fun than getting it right, or she was practicing parts that gave her trouble, repeating the same moves over and over again. Here? She’s giving it her all.

Damn, she can dance. Her movements are graceful and filled with passion, and it feels like she’s causing the music instead of responding to it. She darts over the stage like gravity has a hold on her only because she lets it, and when she jumps, he swears she’s got wings lifting her up. Watching her makes him itch with the need to paint. 

He wonders if she’d let him paint her back. If she’d let him bring out the wings she’s showing here.

One way to find out.

_Free tomorrow? Same time and place_

He texts her after he’s left the building. Takes awhile before she answers, but when she does, a rush goes through him.

**_I’ll be there_ **

He hopes that’s for real. It’s been a couple of weeks since they swapped numbers, and this will be their second hookup since then. The first came from him too, and while he were planning to have her start the next round, the dancing has put him in a mood. The round after can be her turn.

The next evening, it becomes clear waiting on her call next ain’t optional. Her walls are even higher than last time. He needs to let her come to him after this.

But first.

“Hey,” he says with a smile and gestures her to come in. Gwen enters and drops her bag on the dresser.

She don't greet him back. Instead she looks him over with a frown. For a moment Aaron wonders if she knows 'bout the tailing, but he don't allow it take hold for real. One, she didn’t display any of the usual signs of knowing she's being watched, and two, she's showing no fear. More likely this is her intimacy issues acting up.

Gwen crosses her arms. It’s more a show of aggression than a defensive move.

“I’m starting to think this isn't just about sex for you.”

“You're thinking wrong,” he says, casual but sincere. “Only thing I want from you is a good fuck.” And he wants it bad.

Gwen gives him a look that says she thinks he’s full of crap. Long as that don’t stop her from fucking his brains out, he’s got no problem with that.

Aaron steps closer and holds out a hand, looking like he's got all the time in the world. Gwen debates briefly, but then she takes it. Aaron holds her gaze as he brings her hand to his mouth. 

Gwen don't pull away.

He sucks on her index finger like it’s the best thing there is. Gwen’s lips part and her eyes darken. Whatever her issues, they don't lessen what he does to her. Aaron lavishes the space between her fingers with his tongue and gives her a hooded look.

“Feel like going the doggy route?”

She does. It’s another great ride, but damn, the need to paint her back is even stronger now. It’s his own fault of course, he suggested this position exactly because he wanted to see the full canvas, naked and writhing. Got what he wanted, but unfortunately, he can’t ask for wings yet. Would take an hour at least to get it right, and right now she ain't comfortable enough for that. He’ll have to settle for tracing their shape instead.

Turns out, he can’t settle for that either. Gwen ain’t interested in staying the night.

“Got a problem with that?” she challenges. Even after blowing her mind, her guard is still up. Aaron hopes that’s gonna change soon, this whole thing won’t last long otherwise. But that’s a worry for later. Same for the theory he got hit by when she got up to get clean.

“Nah, we’re good,” he says, comfortable on the bed and languid like only a good fuck can cause. 

Gwen snorts, a smile tugging at his lips. Then she scowls. Annoyed at herself for finding him fun. Her loss.

Grabbing her stuff, she moves to the door. 

She hesitates and looks back at him, expression closed off. Aaron ain’t in the mood to figure out what’s going on through her head, so he just gives a wave of goodbye. Gwen hesitates another moment but then she leaves.

This is gonna run one of two ways. Either she’ll stay suspicious and break things off, or she’s gonna accept he’s telling the truth and lower her guard. He’s hoping for the second. If it’s the first, she’s not gonna be open for a session like the wings, and that will make him lose interest fast. If she don’t break it off, he will.

As for the theory he got hit by, that will require another break-in. Need to get a dna sample. And if the results ain't normal, he needs to do a more direct check to make sure she ain't Spider-Woman. Still don’t think she is, he’s fought the woman enough to have a firm lock on how she moves. Gwen might have some similarities but she don’t hit the mark for real. Not even when dancing, which is when the tells would come out in full. Unless she knew he were watching. Which she would have, if she's the city's star psychic.

Even if Gwen is Spider-Woman, she’s got no idea 'bout his own mask. Would never have gotten in bed with him otherwise. Too many morals for a play like that. He’s good for now. And really, it's pointless to think on this before he's confirmed if she's even a super or not. He's leaning towards yes, would explain some stuff he found at her place. But not all supers wear a mask.

Some might say he’s a dumbass for being so casual ‘bout this. Those people jump at shadows. It’s a miserable life he’s got no interest in. Gwen didn’t trip any real warnings, and unless that changes, he’s gonna treat her as he said he would. A fuck buddy and nothing more.

And if she does turn out to be Spider-Woman, well. That would change the whole game. Most of him hopes she ain’t, he’d like to explore the natural rhythm they have. But another part is thrilled at the mere thought of it. What a risk it would be to take on that play.

There’s a reason he never stayed on the straight and narrow like his brother wanted. And that reason is simple.

Life is boring when you play it safe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Is Aaron a bastard? Yes. Was Gwen aware he was tailing her? Oh yeah. The benefits of having a spidey sense. And that's all I'm going to say about that for now. Don't want to give any spoilers :3


	9. The Present - Part 5

Aaron weren’t expecting to find Miles for real. And he don’t. Instead, half an hour into the search, Rio calls.

Rio ain’t the one speaking.

“Hey, uncle Aaron.”

The relief hits so hard it leaves him faint.

“You okay?” he asks.

“Yeah, I’m fine."

And he sounds like it too. The last of Aaron’s tension fades. Then humor rises when Miles says he’ll explain everything after he gets back. Turnabout is a bitch. 

After telling Miles he’ll be back in about fifteen, he asks how long it’ll take Jeff. Miles would have called him first.

Jeff will be back in ten. Aaron is pretty sure his brother is gonna be hurrying without watching his back, and he almost calls to tell him to take care. But Jeff sucks at lying in every sense of the word. Hurrying somewhere will look less suspicious than his brother being on the lookout for trouble.

Aaron takes care not to get sloppy on his way back. He’s messed up enough for one day.

Double checking the coast is clear, he enters the tunnels and fixes the amateur job his brother did at covering his tracks. Part of him is exasperated, part of him worries Jeff led Vanessa straight to their hideout, and most of him needs to see Miles.

Miles brought company. That’s the first thing he notices. The second is his nephew’s lack of injuries and the general air of relief. His family relaxed when they saw it was him, and the conscious part of their company followed suit.

Aaron closes the door, goes to the table everyone has gathered at, and pulls his nephew into a hug.

“You really okay?” he has to ask, doing a subtle check for injuries. Miles responds as he should. Physically, that is.

“Told you, I’m fine,” Miles says, shrugging off his hands and stepping back. Relieved but a little on edge too. Don’t take long to learn why. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have gone to sleep.”

No he shouldn’t have. But what’s done is done. Can only learn from your mistakes.

Miles weren’t the only one who did wrong.

“I should have given you the entry code,” Aaron says, bumping his nephew’s shoulder like it's all good and giving him a smile to show it's real. He’s glad when Miles relaxes and smiles back.

“Yeah, that would have been useful.”

“Almost as useful as a phone in your pocket,” Aaron returns, teasing and with no blame. He ain’t gonna lecture Miles, his nephew did an okay job on the whole. But you gotta know where you went wrong. And Miles got wrong this and the sleep part.

Miles grins and quips back ‘bout how he kept his real phone off. Aaron don’t say he should have turned it on, tilting his head with agreement instead. While Miles turning on his phone would have made things a whole lot easier, his nephew’s decision to stay off grid weren’t a stupid one. And Miles needs the reassurance he didn't screw up completely.

Finally calm in full, Aaron pays real attention to everyone else. Rio, the only one sitting down, is watching him like a momma bear, ready to step in if he does any wrong. There’s some softness from seeing him treat her son right though. Jeff, standing with her, is watching him much the same way, but there’s familiar envy also. No doubt his brother pointed out what Miles did wrong too, it's how Jeff shows he cares. Hell, it's how Aaron shows he cares too. But even with them saying much the same thing, it often lands way different. The delivery has always been his brother’s weak point.

Then there's the unknown company, made up of two. One is with them at the table, a white kid a little older than Miles. He’s wearing a red and blue suit, spider themed, and it ain’t cheap.

“So you’re uncle Aaron?” the kid asks in response to his look, curious and at ease. Then he backtracks. “Not my uncle Aaron of course, I don’t have an uncle Aaron. But Miles does. And you’re him?”

“Yeah, man,” Miles says while Aaron moves on to the final stranger, snoring on the bed. They're covered by the blanket, but their face is turned this way.

Whatever his nephew says next is lost. That’s Gwen. She's got brown hair and her face is beat up in a different way than before, but that’s Gwen for sure. And she’s drunk. Only time she snores.

“Peter Parker.”

He returns his attention to the talk happening. The kid, named Peter, holds out a hand. It's aimed at them all, not just him.

Jeff steps forward and shakes it, firm but with no challenge.

“Nice to meet you, Peter,” Jeff says, more pop than cop. “I’m Officer Davis. How do you know Miles?”

What happened to Gwen? That's what should get answered first.

“Okay,” Miles says, hands coming up to help tell his tale. He's thinking this through. Good. “So what happened is, I went out to find Spider-Woman.”

“Still so weird to hear,” the kid, Peter, says, still at ease. Aaron is glad Miles keeps going like there were no interruption.

“Didn’t find her.”

Then who’s snoring on the bed?

“Well, kind of didn’t find her?” Miles says with a look at Gwen. Who might not be Gwen. Aaron resists the urge to hurry things up. “But I found Peter!"

And he fits into the story how?

"He was swinging after...”

While Miles searches for the right description, Aaron checks the kid’s wrists, hiding the move by taking off his scarf. There’s definite bracelets beneath the suit. This tale is getting more confusing by the moment.

“The other Spider-Woman?”

Other, how?

“I was trying to talk to her,” Peter says like it’s supposed to clear things up. “Key word trying, she kept running away. And kept succeeding. Can't decide if that's impressive or insulting, what with how drunk she was.”

“She was tripping a lot,” Miles agrees.

“And she hit that pole hard,” Peter says with a nod. Aaron resists the urge to close his eyes. While there’s a lot of info here, it ain’t being delivered well.

“Miles, I asked how you and Peter know each other,” Jeff says, determined. Not how Aaron would have done it, but he appreciates the effort to get things back on track.

“I told you, I just met him,” Miles says, a little defensive. Aaron would have done damage control if Peter didn't speak up first. Got a feeling the kid is a chatty one.

“He called out when he saw me," Peter says, again acting like it's supposed to clear things up. Hope it ain’t a lie this time. “And then we had a same hat moment, so we teamed up like the buddies we are. Let me tell you, I really appreciate the help. First rule of dimension hopping, find yourself a guide.”

The pieces fall into place. This time Aaron does close his eyes, and he rubs his head too. Part of him is still listening to the talk but most of him needs a moment to process. 

He’s still processing when there’s a familiar call.

“Aaron."

His brother is aware he's figured things out and he'd really appreciate some help in getting things to make sense again.

Miles and his new friend, who were asked to give a more step by step retelling, halt the info dump already turning chaotic again. Aaron takes a deep breath and looks at his brother.

“Told you I was doing a job,” he says, and waits till Jeff nods before continuing. “The job involved a machine designed to reach into parallel universes.”

“Reach into parallel universes,” his brother repeats like he can’t believe this is happening for real. Rio agrees in Spanish, looking as bad as Jeff.

“Insane, I know,” Aaron says with agreement of his own, more cause Jeff needs the confirmation than anything else. But it ain’t a lie, he thought this whole project mad from the start. And he expected it to fail hard.

Turns out, it worked.

“But it’s real, and it works. And Spider-Woman got caught in it. So I'm guessing different versions of her got pulled into our world." How many is a question for later. "And while looking for our own neighborhood spider, Miles met up with two others. Cause we ain’t in enough of a mess already." That last slips out before he can help it. 

His brother gets a look saying he couldn't agree more.

“Wow, you’re right, he’s smart.”

Thank you, spider kid who don’t belong in this world.

“Yeah, I know,” Miles says with a pride Aaron would have been all over if he weren’t so done. Today can’t get any worse.

Life being the bitch it is, the thought is followed by the spider kid... glitching. Best way to describe the riot of colors and noise and nauseating shapes he gets pulled into. The kid falling down with a distorted scream says the whole thing is as painful as it looks.

Gwen glitches too, and even with the little he can see of her, it's clear she's crying out. Aaron is already moving when his mind catches up to what his body is doing. Only reason he halts is cause the glitching stops. For both Gwen and Peter.

He's the only one who noticed Gwen—noticed the other Gwen glitching. Her cry got masked by the noise and louder scream, and the others are all focused on Peter. While they crowd him and demand to know if he's alright, the Gwen who ain't his Gwen opens her eyes a sliver.

Her gaze settles on them all. It lingers on Peter. Even with the bruises and swelling making it hard to read her face, there’s a lot going on there.

She turns her head to the other side and pulls up the blanket. Pretending to go back to sleep.

She didn't pay him real attention.

“I don’t think my atoms are happy about being in the wrong dimension.”

The pained statement makes everyone fuss some more. Rio does it by telling Jeff and Miles to move back and give him some space. Aaron takes the opportunity to move with them, acting like he were busy with Peter too.

He don’t let the other Gwen out of his sight.

Aaron asks Rio if she needs medical supplies. There’s a kit on the nightstand next to the bed. Rio looked over the other Gwen before he got here. And now she's doing the same to Peter.

Rio says she needs the measurement instruments in it, while the kid says that's not necessary, he's fine. Kind of. But he wouldn't say no to some food. Not that he's saying they need to feed him, just that he hasn't eaten in a while and it would really help him feel better. 

Yeah, he’s a chatty one.

Aaron is already moving to get Rio what she needs when Miles says of course they can get him something, what would he like? Rio is still busy making sure the kid is alright, while Jeff is asking if it's a good idea to eat. His brother is also really wishing he could do something other than stand around.

They’re gonna need more chairs. Only two are at the table right now.

“How 'bout you grab us some more chairs, brother?” Aaron asks, and tells Jeff where they’re stashed.

Jeff takes up the task with relief. For all their differences, they got a lot in common too. Like a need to do useful shit when the going gets tough.

The other Gwen starts snoring again. Maybe she ain’t pretending after all.

She looks even more familiar up close.

After giving Rio what she needs, Aaron puts together a quick meal. He also tells Jeff where he can get drinks for Miles and the kid, and much needed beers for the rest of them.

The glitching don't seem to have done real damage. It's a relief for all.

After they’ve all gotten comfortable, they make another attempt at getting a coherent story out of the kids. Still a challenge, Peter rambles even when eating, and Miles goes with the tangents like they make perfect sense. But eventually, the tale comes together.

Peter is from another world alright. He’s Spider-Man over there, has been for almost two years, and he got dragged into this world while in the middle of a fight with Doc Ock.

He ended up two days in the past. Time travel is involved too. Sure, why not. 

“Was planning on talking to this world’s Spider-Woman, but just the idea made my spidey sense go crazy," the kid says after a hasty swallow. "Only stopped today, when the earthquake hit. Or well, the collider got turned on. Huh. Do you think it’s because talking to her would have caused a time paradox?”

That last is aimed at Miles.

“Makes sense,” Miles says like there’s nothing weird ‘bout this whole thing. “If you’d talked to her, she might not have gone to the collider, but she had to go there for you to get here.”

“That’s what I was thinking.”

Great. Can they get things back on track now?

Jeff tries to do just that, and Rio fixes the wording so it works for real. The tale continues. 

Peter, his spidey sense no longer going crazy, decided to look for Spider-Woman. He found her. Kind of. 

The other Gwen weren’t interested in talking to him. She took off fast, and the only reason Peter could keep up was cause she were drunk.

“I mean, that wasn’t the only reason, I’m good at what I do,” the kid backtracks with a wave of his fork, pride stung by his own words. “But it did help.”

Miles spotted them just as he were thinking of calling it quits, and ran after them while calling out. After sharing a psychic moment with his fellow super, they teamed up to catch the other Gwen, Peter carrying Miles as they swung after her. Aaron makes a mental note to check the news before going to bed. There weren’t anything real useful before, he knows cause he pick pocketed a still unlocked phone while looking for Miles and used it to keep track of all spider sightings. Were more than usual, people looking for Spider-Woman after the earthquake weirdness, but it was all word of mouth. ‘Course, now that he knows there’s other spiders in town, some of the city wide sightings get a whole new meaning. But the important part is there were no real proof. Hope that don't change.

Miles and Peter tried to corner the other Gwen. And they did that by having Peter throw Miles at her like they weren't sky high, before rushing to grab her when she dodged the missile that were his nephew. 

In other words, no one was there to catch Miles on impact. Aaron is damn glad his nephew is right here with no damage. 

To no surprise, this part makes Jeff and Rio freak and fuss. Don't last long though. Comes from the information overload all of them are suffering from. 

Despite their super powered antics, the kids failed to corner the other Gwen. Only reason they managed to catch her is cause she knocked herself out by slamming into a streetlight head first.

“While dodging us. We were really close to catching her,” Peter says, meal finished and hands helping to sell his tale. He looks earnest.

He's perched on the back of his chair and keeping balanced with unconscious ease. And Miles is doing the same. The first time it happened with Peter, Jeff told him to get down, and was firm even after Peter said he wouldn't fall, but even if he did, it wouldn't hurt. Jeff let it slide the second time though.

He didn't let it slide for Miles. Neither did Rio. Too worried Miles were gonna hurt himself. But the third time Miles started perching without even noticing, they gave up. 

They got looks saying their son having turned into a super is starting to hit home for real. Knowing is one thing, seeing is another.

Gwen sits like this too.

“Right?” Peter asks Miles. Wanting some back up for his claim.

“Oh yeah, we would have caught her if she hadn't done that flip,” Miles says with enough movement it should have made him catch his balance at the least. Believes his claim for the most part too.

With the other Gwen unconscious, Miles and Peter had their first real talk. Miles learned his new friend is from another dimension, and Peter learned Miles had a place he could crash at. Part of Aaron is exasperated and worried over how fast Miles revealed their hideout, but taking these two spiders back with him really were the best course of action. They're potential leaks and valuable info sources both.

Miles and Peter carried the other Gwen back. And they weren’t spotted when going down the tunnels. Peter would have noticed. Same if they had a tail before that. Damn useful to have a sixth sense.

Having reached the story's end, he, Jeff and Rio all take some time to process. Then Miles says they need to help Peter get home. Aaron speaks up right away.

“We need to sleep.” For real. It's late for everyone but him, and it’s been one hell of a day for all. They gotta rest before doing anything else. 

“Amen to that,” his brother says, done with everything. Rio agrees with a tired blessing of her own.

Aaron says he’ll get everything ready and gets to work. Jeff and Rio can handle the kids.

He grabs bedding for all, and some clothes for Peter too, before making beds on top of the hidden exit. One less way for the other Gwen to leave. Locks the door for the same reason.

While Jeff unpacks and Rio herds the kids into getting ready for bed, Aaron goes to the desk and checks what the internet is saying ‘bout Spider-Woman.

They’re asking where she were when the earthquake hit, and wondering what kind of earthquake deforms buildings like this. Lot of buzz there, but the last reliable footage of her is two days old. Right now it's all word of mouth, with a blurry shot that could just as easily be something else at most.

The tales involving Miles don't stand out too much. And the most solid sightings are so spread out they ain’t gonna offer a real lead to Vanessa. Good. Aaron sets some alerts before closing the tabs.

“You got a minute?”

Only if Jeff ain’t about to argue. Sounds like he’s in the clear though.

“Sure,” Aaron says, turning around and leaning against the desk. 

His voice were kept low like Jeff's was. His brother don’t want this talk to carry. The kids are in the bathroom now, but Rio ain't. While Aaron got no doubt Jeff is gonna share everything said with her, his brother wants a moment alone first. Or as alone as you can get in this place.

Jeff hesitates like he always does when he's got too much on his mind to know where to start. Aaron waits for his brother to get his thoughts in order.

Jeff sighs and rubs the back of his neck. It makes Aaron relax for real.

His brother don't want to argue either.

“How bad off are we?” Jeff asks. Aaron thinks it's referring to how safe this place is but he ain't sure. About to find out if he's right.

“Safety wise, we’re good. This place ain’t easy to find, and it ain't easy to break into either. We’re not gonna get surprised here.” That last is a slight exaggeration. The odds are low, but if any of them got spotted on the way back, they’ll wake up to a team of supers trying to knock down the walls. But even Octavius would need a moment to break through, and that's ignoring the alarms he's got in place. They’ll have enough time to get out.

Jeff relaxes. This is what he wanted to know alright. 

“We do need to set up a watch though,” Aaron adds. He only realizes it counts as a play when he gets a look as exasperated as it is fond. Aaron ignores how that makes him ache.

“Why?” Jeff asks. Aaron nods at the other Gwen.

“She’s gonna take off the first chance she gets.” Or she will if she’s anything like his Gwen. Even if she ain't, his nephew’s tale makes clear the running risk is real. “Would prefer to talk to her before that.” Not in the least cause she might know where his Gwen went.

She might know where Spider-Woman went. Got no right to think of Gwen as his.

Jeff sighs.

“I’ll take second shift. Rio will take third.”

And Aaron will take first. He's glad. Might be exhausted on a mental level, but physically the night is pretty young yet. And he's got some more stuff to do before crashing.

“Thanks, brother,” he says, gratitude all real. Been a long time since his brother listened to him like this.

The conflicted look Jeff gets reminds Aaron his brother is only playing along cause they’ve got too much shit to worry about to do otherwise. Would have hurt more if he weren’t so tired. The next couple of days are gonna be rough.

As long as his family makes it through, he can handle that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And so the plot gets kicked into gear for real... And it's all thanks to Miles! He might not be the viewpoint character, but he's still a protagonist in his own right. And nowhere is that more clear than here xD
> 
> Seriously though, I've been looking forward to this chapter SO MUCH! Gwen being the one pushed into the collider means the spiders who came through aren't the same as in the movie. And I'm having so much fun working out the differences...
> 
> Hope you enjoyed! I'd really, really love to hear what you thought of this chapter too. Did you enjoy the reveal? And did you like this teenage Peter?


	10. The Past - Part 5

Aaron reads over the test results. It looks legit but he’s pretty sure it’s fake as hell. Gwen is too careful to share samples with a lab like this. She’s also nervous and trying to hide it. Wouldn’t have picked up on it when first they met, but by now seen her relaxed enough for the signs to be clear.

“Well?” she asks, the set of her shoulders revealing she’s not as confident as she’s pretending to be. It's a subtle thing though. “Does this meet your approval?”

Aaron lets out a neutral hum and watches the response from the corner of his vision. Gwen almost grimaces but she catches it in time. Instead she puts a hand on her waist and raises a brow, as much a demand as a display of annoyance. Would be a normal response if it weren’t for the tells.

Aaron lowers the STD test results and meets her gaze.

“You got this fast,” he says with no accusation. The words alone are challenge enough.

Gwen rolls her eyes, annoyance growing some. It succeeds in hiding her nerves in full. She's good.

“Excuse me for putting a rush on this.”

Aaron smiles, humor all real.

“That desperate for my mouth?”

“With every word you say, my expectations are rising,” Gwen returns with warning. Aaron grins. He’s damn glad she decided to trust him. And even more glad she passed his Spider-Woman test. Would have missed out on a lot of fun otherwise.

His response makes a smile tug at Gwen’s lips, though she don’t relax for real.

“I thought you’d be happy I got this so fast,” she says. Changing tactics. “Don’t you want to get a blowjob?” 

And she's going the bribing route. Aaron approves.

“Would be nice,” he says, honest. “But only if the return favor ain’t gonna end with me catching something.”

“That’s what the test is for,” Gwen says like she’s talking to a dumbass. Honeyed arguments ain’t her style.

“And it’s why I gotta make sure it’s legit,” Aaron returns in the same way, having more than a little fun. He knows she’s clean, a bonus from the kind of super she is. But one, would be suspicious if he weren’t thorough after how firm he were ‘bout this, and two, yanking her chain some is amusing. Makes her turn snappy.

The fact Gwen lets out a frustrated sigh instead of firing off another retort is another sign of the test being fake. They’ve met up enough for him to have a solid lock on her baseline response to his plays.

“Look, I did what you wanted. Either accept it or get ready to grovel.”

The laugh he lets out is all real. It makes Gwen’s eyes crinkle with humor of her own. Another reason it’s fun to yank her chain is cause she don’t get mad for real.

“Grovel, how?” he asks, putting down the paper and sauntering towards her.

“For one, you’d need to get me off at least three times before I’d even consider returning the favor,” she says, more playful than annoyed now, and puts a hand on his chest to keep him at bay. Aaron puts on a heady smile and leans towards her as much her hold allows.

“That all?”

“No.”

With that, Gwen removes the hand he were using as a support and steps behind him while he lazily catches his balance, turning on his heel to keep her in sight.

Gwen is watching him with bedroom eyes and a faint smirk. She likes being challenged. One of the main reasons they fit together so well.

“You’d have to paint me just the way I want too.”

“Not a punishment, that,” he says in a low voice while stepping towards her. Heat runs through him when Gwen steps back. Gotta love a good chase.

“No coming until I say so either,” she says in a low voice of her own, her legs hitting the side of the bed. Aaron keeps coming closer and subtly prepares for a lunge. He ain’t falling for the same stunt she pulled last time.

“Again, not a punishment.” Well, not a real one. Blue balls ain’t his thing, but he don’t mind some play from time to time.

“You say that now,” Gwen says and then she prepares to bounce over the bed. Aaron is ready for that and he lunges at her, aiming to get his arms around her and land them both on the sheets.

A grin is the only warning he gets before he hits Gwen, and then she’s turning his momentum against him, grabbing hold of his shirt while using a foot to flip him over. Aaron moves with the switch on instinct, controlling the landing as best he can.

He lands flat on his back while Gwen straddles his lap with that fine ass of hers. She caught the impact of her landing with her legs. Would have hit way less pleasant otherwise.

He really wants to know where she learned to fight.

“You’ll be saying something different if you actually need to grovel,” she says, still holding onto his shirt and looking smug as hell. Wouldn't like hearing it, but she's hitting cute more than hot.

The straddling, on the other hand, is all hot.

“That so?” he asks in a low voice and lifts his hands to stroke her thighs and ass. 

He don’t get a chance to take hold of her waist and roll them over before Gwen grabs his hands. She entwines their fingers, grip firm enough to present real trouble in getting free, and places them beside his head while leaning down so her face is hovering over his. 

The position leaves her unbalanced.

“How do you feel about bondage?”

Aaron grimaces. Yeah, that would be a punishment alright.

“Not my thing.” At all. Tried it once and realized fast it weren't for him. Both giving and receiving.  


“Can’t handle a woman on top?” Gwen asks like she don't ride him half the time they meet.

“Don't like being tied up,” he returns, honest. Gwen snorts. Time to find out if he can turn that into a real laugh. “Can be bribed into wearing a bra though.”

Gwen laughs and Aaron uses the distraction to roll them over, using hips and the handhold she so kindly gave him to do it. 

It’s a good thing the bed is king size. Would have hit the floor twice over otherwise. 

Gwen’s laugh turns into a yelp, and Aaron feels her tense before she relaxes on purpose. While he traps her body with his own, taking care to keep a stable position, she blows a piece of hair out of her face and tries to give him an unimpressed look. Might have read as real if she weren’t smiling so hard.

“That’s cheating.”

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” he returns and leans down to nip at her bottom lip. It makes Gwen’s eyes darken, and she rolls her hips with that smooth rhythm of hers. His cock appreciates it.

“I might be persuaded to change my mind,” she murmurs and nips him back. Then she returns to business. “But seriously, are you satisfied with the test or not? I went through a lot of trouble to get it.”

No doubt. The real annoyance and lack of guilt at his refusal to straight up accept the result makes him think she got herself examined for real. Just off the grid. 

Let’s see if he can confirm that theory.

“Trouble, how?” he asks with a raised brow. 

Gwen’s eyes widen briefly, realizing she messed up. Recovers well though.

“Trouble as in, getting the results before our next meeting,” she says like it should be obvious. Pretending the eye slip was surprise at him needing to ask. Might have believed her if it weren’t for the other tells. Then she sighs, acting resigned. The lack of space between them makes that feel fine indeed. “Look, I get this is important, and I agree completely with the need for it. But the suspicion isn’t fun. Either trust me or don’t.”

He does trust her. Or rather, he trusts his findings of her. Wouldn’t have deleted all the info he got or halted the tracking of her cell otherwise.

He also approves of her turning the heat back on him to get out of the danger zone herself. She’s a smart one. Should reward that.

“Can’t be too safe when it comes to this,” he says with a smile, stroking her hands. “Why do you think I get tested on the regular?” 

“And that’s very responsible of you,” Gwen says with an indulging look, stroking his hands back. “But you’re still avoiding the question.”

Yeah, he is. It’s habit to avoid a straight answer. But sometimes you gotta spell it out.

“I believe you,” he says. Might not know how her healing works exactly, but the lack of any kind of flu medicine in her otherwise well stocked medicine cabinet is telling. And yeah, he could have skipped this whole thing, but one, bad habits get you killed, and two, he were curious to see how she'd handle this. By now he's got a decent grasp on how she acts, but there's a lot left to learn still.

He learns this kind of agreement makes Gwen relax in full. 

“You’ll need to get tested again if you do unprotected shit with another though,” he adds, light and teasing. In part cause it makes sense for him to say that, and in part cause he wants to see her response. The agreement lowered her guard, meaning the added condition has a bigger chance of landing right. It's a basic play. 

He wonders if she's gonna see through it.

Gwen gets a wry smile. Her awareness and amusement at his usual plays makes them that much more fun to do.

“Don’t worry, you’re the only one I’m seeing. Not,” she adds with real warning, her fingers halting their caress, “because I have feelings for you, but because you’re great in bed.”

Aaron don’t hide how pleased he is. Always nice to have his ego stroked.

“You’re great in bed too,” he says, as indulging as she were before. The sentiment is real though. Gonna take some time before he grows bored enough to go looking for other lovers again. Were different when she were still suspicious, too much time in between meetings. But that's changed now. And he's damn glad it did.

“I’m flattered,” Gwen says dryly, and then she slips a leg between his and wraps it around his waist like the snake she is before using the leverage to roll them over. Aaron don’t struggle. Letting her win now will make it that much sweeter when he turns the tables again later. “Now, how about you put your mouth to good use?”

“Thought I was putting it to good use already,” he fires back with a smirk, bringing their entwined hands closer so he can suck on the back of her wrist. Gwen gets a heady look and a bright grin, excited and making no attempt to hide it.

“Why do you think I have such high expectations?”

Well now. Can't leave a lady hanging, now can he?  


“Then I guess it’s time for the clothes to come off.”

Gwen smirks and rolls her hips with challenge.

“Think you can keep up this time?”

Hell yeah he can. A fact Aaron wastes no time in proving, rolling them over again so he's got the advantage. He’s all for some more play before going down on her. And he’s gonna meet her expectations and then some. He likes being challenged too.

Gwen gives better challenges than he’s gotten in a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well would you look at that. We've gotten at the fluffy part of their (past) relationship. The present shows us that's not going to last, but that just means we have to enjoy it while it's here ;)


	11. The Present - Part 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I commissioned fanart for this fic, and the result is AMAZING. [Check it out!](https://loekas.tumblr.com/post/642569056496599040/i-commissioned-a-pic-for-a-spiderverse-fic-im/)

In the first real luck they’ve had, the night passes in peace. Morning arrives without a visit from a team of supers or the other Gwen taking off. Aaron wakes to Rio putting together breakfast, having made herself right at home in the kitchen. 

She made coffee. She can do whatever she wants there.

The other Gwen is no longer snoring but she’s still asleep. Don’t show any sign of waking either, even with the noise. Part of him wonders if she’s faking it but most of him is relieved to see her face is no longer beat up, all bruises and swelling gone. No problem with her healing at least.

She’s older than his Gwen. Around Jeff’s age, if not more.

She’s older than Gwen. Gotta stop thinking of her as his.

Miles and Peter are already up too, but Jeff needs some prodding. Normally his brother is a morning person to a disgusting degree, but breaking up his sleep to take a shift after a day like that has left him drained. Aaron still got lingering sleep of his own to work through, but that’s got more to do with him being a night owl than anything else. His rest was short but good. Real miracle that.

He slept well cause he felt safe. Cause he were surrounded by his family. And that's all the thought he's gonna spare on that. Breakfast first, everything else second.

It takes no prodding to get Jeff and Rio to agree, the two settling on the same plan all on their own. They get the kids to agree too. He's glad.

They’re almost done with breakfast when the other Gwen starts moving. She rolls to her back, lifts a suit clad hand from beneath the covers and rubs her eyes. Aaron ain’t the only one who notices, the others falling silent and turning to face the bed. 

The other Gwen lowers her hand and lifts her head. She looks worn and tired, but she examines the place with keen eyes, gaze lingering on exits and monitors. Then it settles on them, seated at the table.

Her eyes are brown. Aaron ignores how wrong that feels.

“Hi,” Peter says with a wave. Trying to keep his nerves from showing and failing. “Hope you slept well. And sorry for knocking you out.”

“Technically, she did that herself,” Miles says, as in sync with his new bud as he were yesterday. “But yeah, uh, sorry about that. For real. No hard feelings?”

The other Gwen don’t respond, just keeps looking at them. Keeps looking at Peter. Her expression is closed off but her lips are tight in a way that means she’s struggling hard.

Jeff prepares to start something, introductions probably, but a gentle elbow from Rio keeps him quiet. Good. Aaron would like to see how this Gwen responds on her own.

Unfortunately, Peter is a chatty one.

“We have breakfast,” the kid says, gesturing at the table. “And we saved you a seat. And there's a washing machine for your suit, wow, I’m so grateful for the washing machine.”

That last is aimed at him, so Aaron speaks up before the rambling can continue.

“No problem,” he says and gives the kid a pointed look. “Now let her speak.”

“Right, shutting up now.”

Good.

This time they get a response. Other Gwen drops her head back down the pillow with a soul deep sigh.

“I’m way too sober for this.”

Her voice got a rasp he ain’t ever heard from Gwen, and it’s a little lower too. But the similarity is great enough for the difference to feel as wrong as those brown eyes. At least the hair could be dyed.

“That’s a joke, right?” Jeff asks with a frown, the question aimed at Rio. While Rio says she hopes so, something Aaron agrees with, the other Gwen gets up and rolls her neck.

She's got one hell of a stomach. He knows she ain't Gwen but it's still weird to see her fat.

The woman who ain't Gwen walks to the bathroom and disappears inside without another word. Hope it's just to get freshened up and not cause she's trying to run.

"And good morning to you too," Rio says and it's enough to kick things off, everyone speaking up. Unlike before, Aaron don't keep to the background. Takes some careful arguing, but he manages to get Jeff and Rio to agree to let him lead with this new Spider-Woman, on account of him knowing the original one best. Aaron also manages to keep Miles from spilling any personal details there, making clear he don't want that known. Should have remembered to tell his nephew to keep quit there before, but as proven several times over, last night he weren't at his best.

He's doing a lot better today.

It don't take long for the other Gwen to return. And she announces her arrival with a bang.

“This place have any alcohol? The stronger the better.”

Just like that, he’s got all the proof he needs she and Gwen are different way beyond looks.

“We have coffee,” Peter says like they didn't settle on a plan. Good thing Aaron is good at adapting.

The woman who ain't Gwen gets tight lips again, and the set of her shoulders shows she’s on edge. So, interrupt or see how this plays out?

Let it play out. For now.

The woman, not Gwen, closes the bathroom door and walks to the kitchen cabinets, not meeting anyone’s eyes and keeping a clear distance from them. Peter looks at him and keeps quiet. Trying to follow the plan at least.

This Spider-Woman got ballet slippers that are worn and dirty. Another difference. A way more important one than the lack of eyebrow piercing.

Aaron tilts his head when his brother looks at him, telling Jeff the silence is deliberate. The other Spider-Woman starts opening cabinets.

“No booze here,” he says, calm and at ease. Might not yet know how to handle this Spider-Woman, but having her drunk would be a bad idea.

Is her name even Gwen? Or is it something else?

“Forgive me if I don’t take your word for it,” the other Spider-Woman says without halting her search, dry and uncaring. Got some things in common with Gwen at least.

“Don't we have beer?”

Aaron allows himself a sigh. Great job, spider kid.

He ain't the only show of disapproval. Jeff bites back a reflexive reprimand, and he and Rio do one of their married touches, while Miles pushes Peter’s shoulder and gives him a look that says he’s a dumbass. Peter winces, embarrassed. Aware he screwed up at least.

The other Spider-Woman don't pause her search for even a moment. She’s ignoring Peter on purpose. She’s also getting closer to the liquor cabinet. Aaron gets up and walks over, talking in a casual voice.

“Name’s Aaron. Yours?”

“It’s cute how you think this will stop me from getting a drink,” this Spider-Woman says just like Gwen would if she were in a bad mood. She ain’t ignoring him at least.

She's showing no recognition.

While his brother slips up and speaks— _Ma’am, it’s irresponsible to drink at this hour_ —Aaron leans against a cabinet she hasn’t opened yet. It don’t hold any liquor.

His plan works. Other Spider-Woman turns to face him, eyes on the cabinet he’s blocking and ignoring what Jeff is saying.

“Finally,” she says and closes the distance. 

Aaron is ready when she tries to push him aside. Yeah, part of him is still surprised, Gwen wouldn’t do this in or out the suit. Not without given more warning first that is. But this ain’t the Spider-Woman he knows.

He steps to the side and grabs her wrist, pulling hard enough to get her to change her footing and using the opening to grab her other arm too, careful to avoid a painful hold. Don’t want to start a fight, just lay down some lines.

Aaron holds that wrong colored gaze, expression calm and voice soft. If this were the Gwen he knows, the show of force but lack of real aggression would be enough to get her to back down, if only for a moment. And the actual content of his words would make her want to gather more info first. Time to see if it’s the same for this Spider-Woman.

Time to find out if she's really Gwen.

“Gwen, we’re not helping you get drunk.”

Brown eyes narrow in a way that tells him her name is Gwen alright. And her jaw gets clenched in a way that tells him payback is coming. Shit. Aaron lets go of one arm and raises a hand with surrender. If this were the Gwen he knows, the response would make her yank free the arm he's still got a hold of, and she'd shoot off a verbal warning too. Wouldn't take it further than that as long as he don't either though.

This Gwen takes it further.

"Good thing I don't need your help then.”

Aaron lets go in full so he can dodge the kick aimed at his chest, barely in time to avoid the hit, but he ain't fast enough to avoid the other leg slamming into his side and fuck, that hurts. Really wishing he had his gear on right now.

Part of him is aware of the startled cries while he breaks his fall, and then Peter is leaping at Gwen like only a super can and _shit_.

Gwen jumps onto the ceiling to dodge. It's a huge relief when she don’t do anything else. Peter don’t either, more focused on him.

“Are you alright?” the kid asks, worried and holding out a hand like Aaron is sprawled on the floor instead of in a stable crouch. Peter's eyes are darting between him and Gwen—the other Gwen.

Aaron takes hold of the offered hand so he can keep the kid from attacking if needed.

“I’m fine,” he says while straightening up. Cause it would be weird to keep hold of the kid's hand, Aaron grabs his shoulder instead. He makes it look like it's for support by allowing himself a grimace and a check of his ribs. There's no real damage but damn, that was a hard blow. Gonna be feeling that for the rest of the day.

Gwen never would have used this much force against an unarmed stranger. Spider-Woman wouldn't have either.

Peter glares up at the super way different from their own, still sticking to the ceiling.

“That? Was not cool. What kind of hero are you?”

Other Spider-Woman snorts, and even knowing she ain’t Gwen, Aaron still startles at how much pain is in it.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?”

She sounds like she can’t decide if she should laugh or cry.

“Should I?” Peter returns with challenge. Other Gwen shakes her head, disbelieving and tired. Aaron ignores the need to comfort her. Also wonders just how she knows Peter. Wonders what he means to her.

“Alright, that’s enough.”

The words come from Jeff, up on his feet and in full cop mode. His brother’s patience has officially run out.

“There will be no fighting here,” Jeff says like it’s the law, eyes locked onto the other Spider-Woman. Then he looks at the rest of them. “From anyone. Do I make myself clear?”

Crystal. Question is, will this Spider-Woman listen?

This Spider-Woman gets a faint grimace, but she don’t look like she’s preparing to start a fight. Her next words confirm that.

“Look, I’m willing to talk, but only after I’ve gotten a drink. And I mean a really strong one. If you won’t help with that, I’ll leave and find one myself.”

Ah hell. They’ve got an unknown, heavy hitting super they need to talk to, and she won't cooperate without getting tipsy at best, wasted at worst. Bad no matter what way you turn it. Question is, what are the odds of her turning violent when drunk?

She didn't turn violent yesterday. She just ran. Gotta hope that pattern will hold here too.

Aaron walks to where the alcohol is stashed and grabs a bottle of vodka.

“Aaron,” his brother says, reprimand and warning both. Aaron pushes down the urge to respond like a little shit.

“Easiest way to keep the peace,” he says instead, and throws the bottle at the other Spider-Woman before Jeff can argue ‘bout that. 

Other Spider-Woman catches the bottle with a look of relief. She drops to the floor, opens it and drinks like she's downing water. The sigh she lets out after is that of a junkie getting their fix. Aaron reminds himself he don't know this woman. Still has to wonder though.

What happened to turn her into this mess?

“That was a lot,” Miles says, more worried than impressed. Good.

“Is it because we heal fast?” Peter returns, worried too.

“How would I know? You’re the expert.”

“Yeah, but I’m not an expert on drinking. I’m sixteen, remember?”

“Boys,” Rio says. The mom voice is enough to get Miles and Peter to shut up.

Other Spider-Woman shoots a web at an empty chair and pulls it to her. Dropping down on it, she throws an arm over the back, stretches out her legs and closes her eyes while tilting back her head. Gwen sits like that only when she’s had a real rough day.

Jeff disapproves. Aaron gives his brother a warning look and gets a scowl back. But Jeff don’t speak up. Agreeing to let him handle this. For now.

“We held up our end of the bargain,” Aaron says. Other Spider-Woman lifts a hand before he can say it’s her turn now.

“Let me get my buzz on first. Will take maybe five minutes.”

Aaron closes his eyes and takes a calming breath, before nodding an agreement. It’s meant for the others, not her. She’s still got her eyes closed.

He moves to the pots and puts together a plate for the woman. She needs some food in her stomach if she’s gonna be drinking like that.

To his relief, the others follow his lead. Rio tells the others to finish their breakfast, and they do so with minimal fuss. Aaron walks to the other Spider-Woman and resists the urge to nudge her when she don’t open her eyes. Not in the mood to get kicked again.

“Bet you’re hungry,” he says instead. 

One brown eye gets cracked open, her expression closed off. Aaron holds out the breakfast. Really hopes she'll take it. If she don't, it's a sign the coming talk is gonna be one hell of a struggle.

She takes it. Thank fuck.

"Thanks."

"No problem."

With that, he goes back to the table and pours himself another cup of coffee. Has a feeling he's gonna need it.

More than five minutes have passed by the time everyone finishes the last of their meal. They turn their attention back to the other Spider-Woman. She sighs and puts the half empty plate down the floor. At least she's eating well.

“Right then,” she says, still sprawled on the chair but a lot more mellow than before. Her hold on the bottle is loose. 

She don't put it down.

“Who wants to go first?”

“Are you really Spider-Woman?” Miles asks like she ain’t proven that several times by now. Aaron gets where his nephew is coming from though.

“The one and only," the other Spider-Woman says with a sarcastic salute.

“Then why are you drinking like that?” Peter demands, not impressed.

“Because being a hero sucks,” she says before taking another swig from the bottle. Aaron is about to try to get things on track when she shakes her head and continues. “Look, can we just get to the point? What do you know about the whole dimension traveling, and can it be reversed?”

Oh thank fuck.

“Black Queen’s got a machine that reaches into parallel universes, called the collider,” he says, making those brown eyes focus on him. “This world’s Spider-Woman got caught in it. Guessing that’s how you got here. As for getting back to your world, might be possible in theory. We’d need to get control over the collider though.”

And they can’t do that without going through Vanessa first. Not a bad thing, that. Aaron would just prefer to sneak in and kill her, but that’s gonna take some careful planning. Might be faster if he combines it with getting these spiders home. Though that presents the problem of killing Vanessa without them interfering. Other Spider-Woman is still up for debate, but Peter has already shown he's got a soft heart. He's also a kid. Most likely he won’t be okay murder, even of a criminal.

“Spider-Woman, our Spider-Woman I mean, has an override key,” Miles says. Aaron looks at him with a raised brow just as Peter asks for more info too.

“Override key?”

“Yeah, she’s got a thumb drive that can take control of it.”

While Peter turns understanding and goes _oh, she has a goober_ , Miles keeps going like his new bud didn’t say anything. Aaron is grateful.

“She was gonna use it to destroy the collider, but we can use it to send you guys home first. Right?”

That last is aimed at him. Aaron don’t wanna lie to his nephew, so he can’t say he’s right. Need more info first. But even ignoring that.

“Need to find our Spider-Woman before we can use that as a plan.” And that’s gonna pose a problem. Her injuries mean she’s gonna be laying low for a couple of days at the least, and it won’t be at her place.

He’s got two days to track her down. The minimum time Vanessa will need to either crack his personal phone, or get his call history through other means. He deleted Gwen's number of course, but he's still got some pics of her. Don't matter they don't show her face, they're all the lead Vanessa needs to find out who she is.

Here’s to hoping this other Gwen can offer a lead too.

Aaron don’t get a chance to ask before his brother clears his throat.

“I think we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves here.”

No they ain’t.

“Lets do introductions first. I’m Jeff Davis, police officer and Miles’ dad. This is my wife, Rio Morales. She’s a nurse at the Brooklyn Hospital Center.”

Jeff introduces them all one by one. While part of Aaron is annoyed, he knows that’s just the trouble between him and his brother talking. Jeff is right, introductions are in order. 

“And you are?” his brother asks after finishing. Other Spider-Woman looks faintly amused. If she were the Gwen he knows, he'd say it's cause of how by the book Jeff is being.

“Gwen C. Stacy, superhero and functional alcoholic,” she says with a mocking wave, revealing another difference between her and Gwen. Wonder what the C. stands for. 

More importantly, this makes for a better way to think of her.

Gwen C. frowns.

“Probably shouldn’t have given my last name.”

No she shouldn’t have. She’s feeling the drink alright. And now she’s taking another swig. Would be worried 'bout alcohol poisoning if it weren’t for her healing.

He's still a little worried. Only saw Gwen drunk once, way back when she first drew his attention. He remembers she were drinking fast then, but this fast? 

“It’s cool, we won’t tell,” Miles says, confident. Good thing he ain’t looking at his dad, cause Jeff gets a look saying he ain’t too sure about that. Aaron makes a mental note to talk to his brother ‘bout this later. Gwen’s got enough trouble already without adding in Jeff’s need to play it by the book.

“Any idea where our Spider-Woman could be?” he asks Gwen C. “She’s injured bad and will be lying low somewhere not her place.”

Gwen C. hums just like Gwen does when she's got an answer but ain’t sure it’s the right one.

“I might,” she says. “But I could be wrong. You’re proof this world isn’t the same as mine.”

Any lead is better than none. But Aaron don’t get a chance to say so before Peter speaks.

“How so?” the kid asks, more curious than annoyed now.

“Because he knows me but I have no idea who he is.”

Damn. The words don’t come as a surprise, but hearing it out loud still hurts. Way more than it should.

“He’s the Prowler,” Miles says and Aaron goes tense before he can help it.

“What?” Peter yelps, while Gwen C. raises a brow, surprised.

Jeff clenches his jaw and reaches for Rio. While Peter demands to know why Miles didn’t tell him this before, Rio gives his brother’s arm a comforting squeeze and glances between the two of them. Well aware this ain’t as small a thing as Miles is making it out to be.

“Didn’t come up,” Miles says like it’s no more important than the date. “And it’s fine, he’s on our side now. No more Prowler,” his nephew finishes with a grin at him. Aaron fakes a smile and tilts his head with agreement.

When Miles looks back at Peter, already talking again— _Is there anything else I should now? Is your mom the Silver Sable?_ —Aaron grabs his glass of water so the turn of his head reads as natural to his nephew, before dropping the act and putting on a new one. 

It's more real than not. He gives Jeff a look as tired as it is pleading. He knows this ain’t something that can just be swept under the rug. But they got other shit to worry 'bout first.

Jeff responds with a look as grim as it is pained. Agreeing to let this rest for now, but not planning on letting it go. 

His brother can’t let this go. Too many morals for that.

After this is over, Jeff is gonna try to take him in.

“Well, there’s one more thing. He and Spider-Woman used to date.”

His head jerks back to Miles. Part of him is aware everyone else responds with shock of their own, voices blending together, but fucking hell, that were a dick move. Aaron puts down his glass.

“Miles, that stuff's private,” he says with enough bite to let his nephew know he were way out of line.

Miles looks away like he does when he knows he did wrong, but then he rallies himself and meets his gaze with real confidence.

“Hey man, better they find out now than when we meet Spider-Woman.”

That’s assuming the plan is to take his family along to meet Gwen. It ain’t.

“She’s really mad at you,” Miles finishes like he’s got a right to share that.

“Back up here,” Jeff says, hands coming up like they always do when he’s trying to get his words to make sense. “You and Spider-Woman used to date? Spider-Woman, the vigilante? Web slinger and crime fighter, that Spider-Woman?”

“It was casual,” he snaps, in no way doing this. 

“It wasn’t casual.”

Aaron glares. Miles shrugs and lifts his chin, daring him to say he’s wrong. Aaron don’t know if he’s more annoyed or proud at his nephew’s attitude.

When his nephew keeps going, he's more annoyed for sure.

“They didn’t know—”

“Miles!”

Miles jerks, not having expected him to raise his voice like that. Aaron rubs his head when his nephew gives him an uncertain look, needing a moment to calm down.

“Wow, and I thought my life was complicated.”

Aaron rolls his eyes. The kid seriously can’t shut up, can he?

“Look,” he says with a show of hands, needing to shut this down. “All you gotta know is, me and Spider-Woman got history and it didn’t end well.” Cause he’s a selfish bastard. That part they don’t need to know ‘bout though.

He turns to Gwen C. in a full body movement, putting his back to the rest. He's done talking about this. And they got more important shit to cover. 

Gwen C. meet his gaze, more amused than anything else. Glad to see at least one of them is having fun.

“Different world or not, you’re still our best shot at finding Spider-Woman," he says, all business but no aggression. "So, where would you go to lay low?”

Gwen C. looks him over in a way that says she ain’t gonna be playing along.

“You must’ve been great in the sack.”

Okay, you know what? Screw this. Aaron makes himself loosen up and puts on a show as much dare as invitation.

“The best,” he says in a fuck me voice. It makes his brother choke on thin air, gets a chuckle from Rio, a startled sound from Peter, and Miles lets out a hiccup that's no doubt followed by a mortified look over his own response.

Gwen C. grins and damn. The wrinkles, the wrong colors, the beer gut. None of it matters when she laughs like that. 

The spell is broken by her saluting him with her bottle and taking another drink. Aaron realizes there's a smile tugging at his lips. He shakes his head to get rid of it in a natural looking way and turns serious again.

“Will you help?” he asks, taking care to keep it soft and with no push. A play on her conscience.

Gwen C. sighs, humor making way for defeat.

“Yeah, I’ll help.”

She’s acting like she’s being asked to do something real painful. Aaron cares ‘bout that way more than he should.

He cares more about finding the real Gwen. He needs to warn her ‘bout Vanessa. Needs to tell her what danger her loved ones are in.

He needs to know she’s alright.


	12. The Past - Part 6

The trick to fighting Spider-Woman is to keep attacking. Aaron does just that, lunging and kicking and swiping his claws.

Spider-Woman responds like the super she is, blocking his hits like they ain't powered up and bending like she’s got no bones in her body. When she jumps up a wall, Aaron flies after her. There’s no room for real thought, it’s all fight or flight.

In battle, he always picks fight.

He mentally curses when his claws tear through the wall instead of her stomach, and then there’s a blur of movement and ballet slippers are flying at him and _shit_.

Even with body armor, her kick hits like a fucking truck. This is why you gotta keep attacking. Let her get in even a few hits and it’s game over.

Muscle memory makes him roll over the floor, breaking his fall and getting him back up. Right in time, cause Spider-Woman is coming in swinging. Aaron grabs her leg on instinct alone and spins on his heel, repulsors giving him enough speed to keep her from retaliating and hydraulics letting him throw her into a wall hard enough to crack it. In the brief break that grants him, real thought returns.

He’s gotta get out of here.

There’s no chance to act on the thought before a string of web hits his chest. Ah hell.

Spider-Woman pulls and Aaron fires his boots to get to her even faster. Can’t let her lead, gotta throw her off her rhythm.

Him taking the lead means Spider-Woman jumps up the ceiling to dodge instead of punching his lights out, and Aaron cuts the web still connecting them before she can yank him around again. Then he’s gotta dodge, avoiding web bullets that would blind him if they hit. Spider-Woman knows his weak spots.

He knows hers too. 

“Come on, Prowler,” she says, voice modulator not hiding the taunting tone. “Aren’t you tired of getting your ass kicked?”

Could ask the same of you.

Aaron don’t say so out loud. He decided long ago to only speak on the job when necessary. Lessens the odds of his cover being blown. Amps up the fear factor too.

Spider-Woman knows he ain’t a talker, and so she’s not surprised when he throws the first thing he gets his hands on—a potted plant—and leaps at her when she dodges. 

He don't reach her before she’s done recovering. She meets his charge head on.

They collide mid-air and it’s only cause she’s holding back that he can flip them so she hits the floor first. Momentum makes them roll and he gets his feet up against her stomach, the move possible because she's still recovering from the crash. A crash she could have avoided. She’s got a soft heart.

Aaron’s got no problem with taking advantage of that.

He kicks out with repulsors at full force and flips around as they’re thrown apart. This time the wall she hits don’t just crack, it bursts wide open, Spider-Woman disappearing into the next room. A normal person would be dead but Aaron knows she’s gonna come back swinging any moment now.

He lunges at a pile of furniture, thrown together during their fight. When Spider-Woman leaps through the hole, he kicks the heavy desk in the center of the mess, sending the whole thing crashing out the window.

“Oh you absolute—”

Bastard. That last is lost as Spider-Woman dives after the furniture though. They’re high up, and if anyone on the streets gets hit by that, they’re gonna be dead. Spider-Woman can’t let that happen.

Yeah, he knows her weak spots.

Running out the office, he darts down the hallway and throws open a door without slowing down. When he gets to the staircase, he takes care not to damage the door, closes it behind him and jumps down. Part of him savors the rush he always gets from falling but most of him stays focused. With any luck, Spider-Woman will assume he jumped out another window and swing around the building to catch him. Fair odds of her taking the stairs instead though, even with him covering his tracks a little. Aaron takes care not to get predictable, but there’s only so much you can do to shake off a super like her.

He’s in luck. She don’t catch up before he reaches his bike. Punching the engine, he speeds away. After making sure he’s not being followed, he finally allows himself to savor the thrill of it all. Damn, but he loves his job.

Is he grinning like mad? Hell yeah he is.

He’s pulled himself together by the time he reports. Boss ain’t happy, Spider-Woman showing up means a delay in plans. The queen has enough people in her pocket to avoid real persecution, but public scrutiny is still a bitch. Still, while it didn’t go as planned, he got the job done. The malware got uploaded before Spider-Woman showed up, and he put her on the wrong track by pretending to be after the contents of a personal safe. Any investigation that happens will get off on the wrong foot.

After the call ends, he goes home and checks the damage, both to himself and to his gear. It ain't bad. Yeah, he’s gonna need to do some maintenance, and he's sore and has some nasty bruises, but that’s it. 

One day, that soft heart is gonna get Spider-Woman killed. Nothing short of a miracle it hasn’t happened yet, really. She’s got enough power to lift a train, yet she can’t bring herself to turn lethal unless it would lead to innocents dying. Hell, keep the dangers to bystanders low enough, and she can’t even bring herself to do real damage. She won’t risk a hit turning fatal. Part of him thinks that a waste of potential but most of him is happy to take advantage of it. Even with his gear, he’d stand no chance if she went full out.

Even with her holding back, their fights get his blood pumping like nothing else. Which is why he’s so pleased when he hears from Gwen.

**_Free tomorrow?_ **

He wants to say yes but his body is telling him no. Tomorrow is gonna suck big time. Should be fine in a couple of days though. Well, should be good enough for some fun.

_How about Thursday?_

**_Somebody's up late. And Thursday works. Usual time?_ **

_Sounds good. And who says I ain't up early instead?_

**_Are you?_ **

_No. But I could have been._

**_Could be is for the weak. We die like men._ **

_Damn, sexist much?_

**_My apologies. We die like homo sapiens._ **

_Way better._

Aaron sends the response with a smile and puts his phone away. He's not surprised when there's no follow up, Gwen meant it when she said no casual texting. But they've been seeing each other long enough for the rules to have loosened some. 

The next day, he texts her that they might need to reschedule. He had an accident. That last ain’t something he would have added in the beginning, but by now it don't send the wrong signal. Same for her response.

**_Are you alright?_ **

Depends on her definition of alright. Even with ice packs and pills, the pain is real. 

He’s not planning on bailing of course. He just needs an explanation for the bruises. Small ones need no excuse, he told her he boxes, but that tale won’t fly with these.

_Yeah, I’m good. Just bruised. Let you know tomorrow if we’re still on or not._

**_Don’t force yourself. Your health comes first._ **

Now ain’t that touching? For real. Gwen might deny it, but they’ve become full on fuck buddies. The buddy part being key here. 

She’d drop his ass in a heartbeat if she knew what he did for a living. Good thing he’s got no intention of sharing.

_No worries, I always look out for number one._

**_Lol. At least you’re honest about it._ **

Aaron snorts. Then he grimaces. His ribs didn’t appreciate that.

He types out a response but hesitates before sending it.

_Being real is what I’m all about._

Yeah, that’s a load of shit. He’s a lying bastard and he knows it.

Aaron pushes the remains of his conscience aside and hits send. So what if it’s bull, it ain’t hurting Gwen. And really, he’s more honest with her than most. Lies about his job is as far as it goes, all else he tells her is the truth.

Him telling her they’re still on the next day is the truth. Same for calling it off last minute cause something more important came up. Miles dropped by and his nephew will always come first. But he’s up for Friday if she is.

She is. And when she sees his bruises, she worries. 

“What happened?” she asks, gently brushing her fingers over the side still painted black and blue. Aaron gives her the look reserved for when she's entering dangerous grounds. Asking if he’s alright is one thing, this is something else.

“You sure want to know?”

Gwen gives him the amused look that means she thinks he's taking the boundary thing too far. 

"I'm sure. Comes from being a decent human being."

True. But that don't change she's pushing some limits.

"It's fine if you don't want to share, though," she finishes, looking sincere. He'd like to believe she's honest for real, so he gives her something. 

“Got hit by a dumbass biker."

Gwen hums and looks back at the bruises. She traces the edges. Part of Aaron wonders what she’s thinking but most of him is hoping she’ll drop this. If she don’t, it’s a sign that things between them are coming to an end.

Gwen meets his gaze with a faint smile.

“So I’m guessing you’re not up for our usual wrestling?”

Aaron relaxes. The way her issues mesh with his needs is a real blessing.

The knowledge she’s gained 'bout his body is a real blessing too. Aside from kissing, Gwen ain’t big on using her mouth, preferring to use her hands instead. But she makes an exception this time, lavishing his collarbones with her tongue and sucking on his earlobes just because she knows he likes it. All the while she avoids putting strain on his injuries. It’s sweet how careful she’s being. Part of Aaron finds humor in that thought, sweet ain't the word for a situation like this.

Most of him is too turned on to pay attention to anything but the wet pussy rubbing against his dick and the soft lips trailing down his throat. A nimble tongue darting out, gentle sucks when he least expects it. Those strong legs caging his own, the breasts brushing his chest. Her hand on his shoulder and wrist, sharp nails working the sensitive skin. The tongue tracing the shell of his ear.

“Feel like getting a blowjob?”

It takes a moment for the words to register, but when they do, Aaron smiles. He nips at her jaw.

“Won’t say no but I’d rather paint your ass.”

Gwen snorts and her eyes do that cute crinkle thing. Being able to laugh with her even in the heat of the moment is one of the many reasons he loves their hookups. 

“Still not over the fact that you don’t like blowjobs,” she says, her nails going to town at the base of his skull. Aaron closes his eyes and tilts his head back to better enjoy it.

“Love them,” he says, sincere. “Just love other things more.” And he don’t like how they leave him too spent to do anything else after. A blowjob after he’s gotten his lover off first is nice, a blowjob before then just leaves him with rankled pride.

Gwen bites down his jaw, making him tighten his hold on her ass on instinct. Her pussy is still rubbing against his dick and it’s great. Would only take a slight shift to slide in...

“How about a deal?” she murmurs. “I go down on you tonight and you return the favor tomorrow morning.”

Aaron grins and strokes her thighs.

“So that’s what you’re after. You want me to eat you out.”

“Yeah, but I’d feel guilty if you did it while injured.”

Aaron laughs. It turns into a groan when Gwen speeds up the rocking of her hips and rakes her nails down his back. Aaron places his hands on her waist to slow her down. Hard to talk otherwise.

“Let me paint your ass tomorrow too and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

Gwen grins, showing off the cute gap in her teeth. 

“I can work with that.”

“You can, huh?” he murmurs with a smile, brushing his nose over hers.

“I’m nice like that,” Gwen quips before she kisses him with a skill he still hasn’t tired of. She might prefer to use her hands but damn, she knows how to use her mouth.

She proves that some more when going down on him. Nuzzling his dick, she gives him a hooded look before licking his shaft like it’s her favorite popsicle. She sucks the top and her tongue plays with the slit and fuck, she’s amazing at this. The hands working the insides of his thighs make the whole thing even better. Aaron brushes her hair out of the way, wanting to see her face as she swallows down his dick.

Damn, she’s gorgeous. Then her fingers start playing with his balls and his hips jerk, sending his dick down her throat and she chokes and part of him is aware he should pull back but then she recovers and her tongue is doing that thing and _fuck_.

It don’t take long before he blows his load. Gwen swallows like a pro. Aaron wishes he could appreciate that more but he’s busy lying down his back and catching his breath. The bruises don't help. He’s not in pain, damn, is he not. But breathing is still a chore. 

He opens his eyes when he feels Gwen crawl on the bed next to him.

She looks like the cat that got the cream and then some. He’s not the only one who takes pride in getting a lover off.

“How was it?” she asks. Aaron lets out a sound he hopes conveys his appreciation. 

Judging from the grin Gwen gets, he got it right.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.”

With that, she pecks him on the lips and hops off the bed. Takes a moment for him to understand why. She’s gonna brush her teeth. Gwen don’t mind swallowing but she’s not a fan of spunk breath. Aaron ain’t either so it’s not like he’s complaining.

By the time Gwen comes back, he’s caught his breath enough to go get cleaned up too. When he’s finished, he crawls into bed with Gwen, ready for cuddles.

Gwen don’t disappoint. Even with the care she takes not to aggravate his injuries, she fits against his side with familiar ease. While she starts up a game on her phone, not planning on sleep yet, Aaron lazily traces the wings he still hasn’t gotten a chance to draw.

“You sure you’re good?” he asks. Deal or not, he needs her to say it. Will keep nagging at him otherwise.

“Not everything is about sex,” she says like that ain’t the basis of their whole relationship. “Besides, you're at your best when you feel like you owe me.”

Aaron smiles. Can’t argue with that.

“Long as you remember I get to bruise your ass too,” he says. 

“Such a great sacrifice on my part.”

His smile grows. He also starts musing on what to draw. Got a lot of options.

It's a shame he can't do her back yet. Not like wants to that is. Can’t do it without admitting he knows her secret, and that holds too much risk of ending things. Right now Gwen is content with what they have, but that could easily change if she feels like she can lower those walls with him. He’s still planning on asking for wings of course, but it’ll be right before they go their separate ways. They ain’t at that point yet.

It don't bother him he’s gotta hold off on this. Well, it don’t bother him much. Got more than enough other drawings to hold his attention. Gwen is a constant source of inspiration. Haven’t had this much fun with a lover in years.

He’s gonna enjoy every moment of it until it ends.


	13. The Present - Part 7

To figure out if she’s right ‘bout where Gwen went, Gwen C. looks up some stuff online, taking care to keep the search private. She ain’t happy when she figures out she’s probably right.

Aaron ain’t happy when his family insists on coming along. Tries to get them to stay behind of course, but no matter what angle he takes, they refuse hard. And they don’t give him a chance to sneak out with Gwen C.

That’s how all of them end up in a white picket fence neighborhood in Queens.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place?” Peter asks, nervous as hell. Turns out, this is his aunt’s home. And he ain’t looking forward to seeing the alternate version of her. Not cause he’s got a problem with her, or with his uncle for that matter, but because this world’s Peter died years ago, at about the age he is now. He don’t want to hurt this version of his family by confronting them with a ghost.

The kid really needs to learn not to overshare. Aaron ain’t gonna tell him of course, the info dumps are working to his advantage. Still, Peter needs to develop a filter if he wants to keep doing the superhero thing.

“I’m sure,” Gwen C. says, on edge just like Peter. Unlike the kid, she hasn’t shared the reason for it.

She’s sober again. They didn't bring the vodka along, and she needs a steady supply of shots to sustain a decent buzz. 

She's got enough control left to put the bottle down when it puts others in danger. Functional alcoholic is the word alright.

Neither Gwen C. nor Peter want to ring the bell, so Miles does it instead, hurrying back to the rest of them after he does. 

It don’t take long for the door to open. The woman who does it is in her late fifties or early sixties. Got a head full of steel grey hair.

She focuses on Gwen C. before her attention is drawn to Peter. All of them are bundled up with hoods and scarves, but it won’t stand up to real scrutiny. This gets proven when the woman, who can only be the famous aunt May, goes pale as hell, wide eyes locked onto the spitting image of her dead nephew.

“Peter?”

The whisper is desperate. Peter shifts in place like he’s got no idea of what to do next. 

He settles on an awkward wave.

“Hi, aunt May.”

May all but stumbles down the porch, eyes never moving from Peter. Part of Aaron keeps paying attention to them, another part is keeping track of the people on the street, and a real big part can’t help but focus on Gwen C. When May started moving, Gwen C. tensed like she were about to step forward, and she’s showing pain and longing both. Trying to keep it hidden of course, but even to those who don’t know her would be able to pick up on it.

“I’m not your Peter.” 

The kid rushes through the words. May halts in front of him, still white as a sheet and lifting a hand like she wants to touch him but don’t dare to. 

“Which doesn’t make any sense, sorry, I’m just really nervous.”

With every word he says, May gets closer to crying.

Gwen C. does too.

“Okay, so. This is going to sound insane but I’m from, well.”

“An alternate dimension,” May finishes, resigned. Proves they’re in the right place at least.

“Yeah,” Peter says, startled. “How did you know?”

Cause they ain’t the only ones who came here.

May gets a fragile smile.

“I’m old, not stupid.”

“You’re not _that_ old,” the kid returns on clear habit. It makes his aunt chuckle, though it threatens to turn into a sob. She lowers her hand and closes her eyes, taking a moment to pull it together. Aaron resists the urge to tell everyone to go inside. Too much risk of it landing wrong. 

Gwen C. looks like she’s on the verge of breaking down. Something big happened between her and her own May. And it happened recent. Unlike with Peter, the pain she’s showing is fresh.

May gets it together and opens her eyes. This time she pays real attention to the rest of them. Jeff and Miles are standing in the exact same way, wanting to help but knowing there’s nothing they can do here. Rio is compassionate too, and Aaron has softened his own body language so he don’t stand out from the others.

May don’t focus on them for longer than a moment. Instead her gaze settles on Gwen C. It makes Gwen C. tense some more, and her mask cracks to the point everyone can see how close she is to falling apart.

May softens. She knows Gwen. And she cares for her.

“You look tired, dear.”

Gwen C. closes her eyes and she crosses her arms like it’s the only thing holding her together. The need to comfort her is damn strong. But it ain’t his place to do so. This is between her and May.

“I am tired,” Gwen C. says softly and fuck. There’s no challenge in it, no defensive push. She’s open in a way Gwen rarely is.

She's broken in a way he's never seen.

If Aaron had to take a guess, he’d say her May passed away not long ago.

Aaron is relieved when May, after looking down the street, ushers them all inside. One, hanging out in the open ain’t a good move, and two, going inside breaks the mood a little.

Unfortunately, the mood don’t stay broken for long.

“Who was at—”

The man coming out the kitchen falls silent and goes pale just like May did. Guessing this is her husband. And guessing there’s gonna be another breakdown. They got just enough time to take off their coverings, meaning Peter is an even bigger ghost than he already were.

Peter looks just like the boy in the pictures scattered around the room. Only difference is the hair color.

There’s a picture of Peter and Gwen together, arms around another and posing with wide smiles. Seeing it jogged his memory. Gwen got the same picture at her place. 

The picture was taken not long before Peter died.

Turns out he’s right, there’s another breakdown. But this time it comes from Peter too. The kid looks like he’s been suckerpunched, and his voice cracks when he speaks.

“Hi, uncle Ben.”

“Peter.”

Where his aunt’s stumbling didn’t crack the kid, his uncle’s does, Peter running over and hugging him like he’ll disappear if he don’t.

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean it I swear, I love you _so much_.”

Well. Seems the kid can keep some stuff to himself. Like his own uncle being dead.

Aaron is pretty sure aunt and uncle are both dead in Gwen C’s world. She’s looking at the crying Ben with as much pain as she showed for May.

They might not be dead. Gotta stop assuming. It’s bit him in the ass way too many times when it comes to Gwen.

May has joined in on the hug and crying both. The three are gonna need a couple of moments before they can get it together. This time the rest of them don’t gotta worry ‘bout being noticed though. The curtains are closed.

His family is talking softly to one another, wondering what to do. But most of their focus is on the weeping Parkers, not Gwen C.

Gwen C. shakes her head and walks to a cabinet. She pulls out a bottle of whiskey. She knows this place alright.

She grabs a glass and fills it to the brim before downing it all in one go. Then she refills the glass and does it again. Great.

Aaron is thinking of how best to keep her from drinking even more when the kitchen door opens again.

Gwen appears in the doorway. Part of Aaron works to keep himself from growing tense but most of him has to look his fill.

The cuts and bruises are gone. His relief is unreal. 

She's still bothered by her leg, standing so it don't carry any weight, and there's the outline of a splint beneath her pants. But she ain't cradling her ribs. Don't seem to have any trouble breathing either. Thank fuck.

Her worried expression turns to shock when her eyes land on the crying family. Then the blood drains from her face, pain and denial rising fast. Aaron wonders 'bout her history with the kid. He's got a rough idea of course, but Gwen has shown him he's grown way too complacent over the years. Can’t draw any conclusions till he gets real proof.

Gwen shakes her head and looks around the rest of the room. Searching more for something that would say the kid is a hallucination than an explanation for why he’s here.

Blue eyes halt on him and widen some more. Then her expression hardens, and the hand holding onto the doorway tightens with rage. Aaron looks at Gwen C, careful to keep up a show of surrender. It makes Gwen glance at Gwen C. too, but while she does a brief double take, she don't soften even a little. Didn't expect it to really, the point was just to offer an explanation for why he's here. But it still hurts.

They ain't ever getting back together. Stupid thing to focus on, they’ve got way bigger problems to worry about. But the knowledge hits hard still.

There’s no recovering from this.

Aaron gives his brother a warning look when Jeff, looking between him and Gwen, prepares to speak. His brother responds with a frown, thinking way too hard 'bout the byplay he just saw happen. Aaron is grateful for the breakdown still going strong, cause otherwise Jeff would have spoken up for sure.

Miles fiddles with his scarf, eyes darting to Gwen, him, the weeping Parkers, and his parents. Wanting to say something but also not wanting to bother the still crying family. Rio squeezes his shoulder and says something to him, too soft to overhear. But the way she glances at him shows she noticed the byplay as well.

Gwen C. is swirling her whiskey and looking between him and Gwen. She's found a decent distraction from her own pain. At least one good thing came out of this.

Gwen looks at Gwen C. for real, and while Aaron meant it about the no assuming thing, there’s seriously not as much surprise as there should be. She’s met one other spider at the least, and there’s good odds on them being another version of her.

Gwen C. salutes her younger self with her glass, before grabbing another one and throwing both it and the bottle of whiskey at Gwen. Gwen catches both on habit, still watching Gwen C. with more consideration than confusion. Then she looks back at him, looks at the sobbing Peter right after, before she fills the glass and throws it all back just like Gwen C. did. Aaron never imaged Gwen could develop a drinking problem, she’s gotten drunk thrice in all the time he’s known her. But seeing her shoot back liquor like this makes him reassess some.

Gwen glances to the side. Responding to something happening in the kitchen. Then she looks at him, defiant and still mad as hell.

She hands the whiskey to someone out of sight. His bet is on another spider. Possibly more than one. Guessing they'll meet them soon too. Hope the crowd will keep things from growing too painful between him and Gwen.

He knows that even at best, it's gonna be damn painful still.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A short chapter, but it would have felt wrong not to focus on Peter's reunion with Ben. Kind of a big thing, that. Next present chapter will be the usual length again though, and we'll finally get some present interaction between Aaron and Gwen too! We'll get some other things too...
> 
> As for Gwen having a close relationship with May and Ben, well. In the movie, Gwen is the one who says: I know a place where we can get a new one, and then the takes the gang to May's. So yeah, in canon, Gwen has a relationship with May at the least. I'm taking that and running with it here :3

**Author's Note:**

> My [main tumblr](https://loekas.tumblr.com/)
> 
> My [spiderverse sideblog](https://stillintothespiderverse.tumblr.com/). If you want to scream with me about this amazing movie, my blog is wide open! Also, I commissioned fanart for this fic, and the result is AMAZING. [Check it out!](https://loekas.tumblr.com/post/642569056496599040/i-commissioned-a-pic-for-a-spiderverse-fic-im/)


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